


Siren Song

by lieano



Category: Fire Emblem: If | Fire Emblem: Fates, Fire Emblem: Kakusei | Fire Emblem: Awakening
Genre: Alternate Universe - The Little Mermaid Fusion, Breaking and Entering, F/F, Falling In Love, Love at First Sight, MerMay, Muteness, Quickly, accidental nudity, take a shot every time nina says the word shit
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-05-02
Updated: 2019-09-03
Packaged: 2020-02-15 21:05:39
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 22,967
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18677383
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lieano/pseuds/lieano
Summary: Once upon a time, the sea knew a song. It was a dangerous and wonderful song, entrusted to a family of sirens that passed down the secrets of the song generation after generation. It was a well guarded gift, until Soleil. Soleil will trade anything for a chance to walk on land and meet a beautiful human woman, even the most important treasure in the sea: her voice.





	1. Overture

**Author's Note:**

> Just a little something I want to work on during mermay. I'm not following any set of prompts, just my heart. It's going to be cute, light, storybook-y. I don't want to dedicate myself to an update schedule, but it'll be short, probably around 5 chapters, and it'll be done by the end of the month if all goes according to plan.  
> The first chapter is very much just a little teeny prologue. To kinda set up the story. Okay, anyway, enjoy~

Once upon a time, the sea knew a song. The way the fish tell the tale, it was a beautiful song that brought prosperity, harmony and light. But the same story in the mouths of a land born sailor was darker, full of misery and pain. Objectively, the song had the power to do both. When heard by creatures of the water, it had healing properties. It kept the sea and all of its wonderful mystery safe. But when heard on land, it drove listeners mad. Sailors who heard the song late at night on their voyages would jump overboard, desperate to be in the water, desperate to feel the magic of the song, and would often drown before they found it.

Seeing the beauty and danger in the song, the sea knew it would have to entrust it to a creature that could sympathize with both fish and humans. It created the merfolk. They would live in the water where they could sing the song freely, but were made in the likeness of humans in hopes that they would sympathize and not deliberately drive sailors mad. 

The merfolk grew rapidly and they guarded the song of the sea like a treasure. Only one family line was permitted to even learn the song. They were hailed as demigods among the merfolk and given the special name of sirens. Thus the song was officially known as the Siren Song. It was a holy, sacred tune that the sirens did not wield lightly. Still, even with the song guarded by a single family of merfolk, accidents happened. 

The last known encounter with the Siren Song in human history was two generations ago, and even then it is only recounted in stories because it was witnessed by an unlawful pirate vessel. Survivors recall the stormy night, the uncertainty that they would live to see another sunrise because of how turbulent and upset the sea was. Black waves and black sky were indistinguishable from each other. Until, in the torrential downpour, there appeared a light. And then a song. Just a single voice, though it echoed like many, bouncing off the clouds that rained down their destruction. It was the most beautiful sound any of the men had ever heard, as well as the most haunting. Its lyrics were not words known to man, but the pirates understood them instantly. 

The pirate crew, who had held on through even the most hopeless part of the storm, started to jump. One by one they tumbled into the waves, even as the skies began to clear. Some men who had heard legend of the siren before tied themselves to masts as fast as they could. Some weren’t fast enough. The ones that were struggled against their bindings. The song was too tempting. They would sooner take off an arm pulling against their restraints than not heed its beckoning call. 

The song finally ended when the sun broke through the clouds. The siren, a beautiful mermaid with sea soaked pink hair, opened her eyes to admire her surroundings. She was, instead, horrified at what she found. She hadn’t seen the vessel, hadn’t heard the shrieks of terror over the sound of her own voice. She was surrounded by human bodies, floating and sinking here and there around her in the surface of the water. Their faces were so much like people she knew under the sea. Her heart broke at the sight of them, at the knowledge of what she had done. 

A shriek broke through the surface and called her attention. The siren dashed to the human, a survivor, splashing for air. She lifted him out of the water, surprised at how light he was until she realized he was only a boy. He gasped for oxygen and she let him gather himself, holding his head just above the water's surface. She watched him silently, noticing how his white hair looked like a cloud against the now bright sky. 

When the boy was no longer drowning, he looked at the siren with one wide sea blue eye. The other was sealed shut by a fresh wound and the red blood around it trickled into the water. The siren almost started to weep at the sight of him, but then he spoke. 

“You saved me.” 

“I almost killed you,” she said back. 

“You can talk,” he gasped. 

“I’m so sorry.” 

The boy looked at the water around him, taking stock of the bodies. He did not remark on them. He simply looked to the siren again and said, “Will you take me back to the ship?” 

“I will.” 

“You are kind,” the boy said. He lifted a hand and wiped away one of her tears that he was somehow able to distinguish from the other droplets of water on her cheek. “I’ll remember this. And I’ll tell them not to fear merfolk any longer.” 

“They won’t listen to you,” the siren said meekly. “And they shouldn’t.” 

The siren was able to return the boy to the pirate ship and remain undetected by the other sparse surviving voyagers. She saw the boy wave goodbye to her from the upper deck, but she was too consumed with grief to wave back. 

As she swam back to her home under the sea, the siren was consumed with her thoughts. How could she prevent a disaster like this from happening again? There would be more storms, more need to heal the ocean. But the disaster that the Siren Song wrought on humanity was too great a burden for her fragile heart to carry. And it was a burden that would be passed down to her children. She could not allow them to face the same guilt she faced now. 

So the siren decided to turn the song into a dance instead. A dance could be performed under the waters of the sea, where no human could see it. It would heal the ocean and be kept away from humans. She would teach her children the dance, tell them to use their fins instead of their voice if they ever needed to heal the ocean. 

In just a couple of generations, she could make the Siren Song merely the stuff of legends. Humanity would never face annihilation at the hands of her song ever again.


	2. Serenade

A long tail made of white scales cut through the water at an odd angle, sending its attached owner bumping to a wall. Soleil grunted and cushioned the blow between the pale, slippery skin of her shoulder and the rough coral. She was already a poor enough swimmer without the added hindrance of being distracted. She patted the coral her apologies and went on her way, once again lost in thought.

Images of that girl swam through her memories again. No, they didn’t swim. They waltzed. On human legs, graceful, elegant and regal. Her long pink gown flowered out around as she twirled with her arms hugged around her torso. Her blonde curls bounced around her gently laughing face. Soleil had not been able to pick up many details of the girl from her place on the rock just at the sea’s edge, but she had seen enough. She was in love with that human girl, for certain. 

Of course, it was not meant to be. Soleil was a mermaid with no means of breathing or locomotion on land. And her beloved, the mysterious beauty on the castle’s balcony, didn’t even know Soleil existed. She was not privy to that same truth that Soleil’s heart had been opened to, that they were soulmates. 

“I can help you.” 

The voice slithered between the columns of coral and stopped Soleil in her tracks. It echoed and hissed in such a way that she couldn’t pin which direction it was coming from. But the more she searched the more evident it was that she was alone. The sea, which was usually overcrowded with life, was suddenly empty around her. 

“Hello?” Soleil called into the darkness. “Is someone there?” 

Just when she thought maybe she had been imagining something, a mass of black scales and silver hair crawled out of a hole in the coral and grinned at Soleil. It was a mermaid, but not like any mermaid she had ever encountered before. She had a row of sharp teeth and a shark’s tail with all of its hard edges. Soleil had never met a carnivorous merfolk before. She shrunk back. 

“Don’t be afraid,” the strange mermaid said in a rolling voice. She glidded through the water in sexy, sleek movements. Soleil, never a person to be intimidated in the presence of a beautiful woman, straightened her shoulders and composed herself. 

“Who are you?” Soleil asked, keeping her voice level. 

“I’m new in town,” the mermaid purred. “You might have heard of me. The sea witch, I believe they’re calling me? But you can call me Aversa.” 

Soleil’s voice caught in her throat. She _had_ heard of the sea witch. Mostly tales of caution, though she had picked up a few positive rumors too. Mermaids were the most notorious gossipers in the sea, and Soleil had been on a lot of dates lately. 

“They say you can help people realize their most impossible desires,” Soleil said, her eyes widening. “Is that true?” 

Aversa chuckled and a couple of bubbles snuck out between her fangs. “A bit dramatic, but sure. I have been known to help the less fortunate. And I can help you, if you like.” 

“Help me? How?” 

“I can make you human.” 

Once again Soleil’s mouth fell open but no sound would come out. She swallowed and tried again. “Human?” 

“Not forever, of course, if you don’t want to be.” Aversa circled Soleil as she talked, trapping her. Not that Soleil had any desire to leave. Her interest was sufficiently piqued. “I can turn you into a human for a three day trial run. If, at the end of three days, you decide you don’t want to be a human forever, you will return to the sea.” 

“And if I decide I do want to stay a human?” 

Aversa came to a stop in front of Soleil, still grinning. “Before the sunsets on the third day, you must share a kiss with the person who motivates that decision. Then you will stay a human forever.” 

Soleil clenched her fists. Maybe this was insanity, but maybe it was an opportunity. She would do just about anything to meet that human girl. She was certain that they were meant to be, that that girl was the person she had been searching for her whole life. Soleil had, after all, dated every fish the sea. Her soulmate had to be outside of it. 

“I should warn you,” Aversa said, holding up one long dark finger. “There is a price.” 

“A price?” 

“Just a small fee, really. But I can’t transfigure your entire biology for free. That’s not how magic works. I will need something in exchange.” 

“Money? I have money.” 

Aversa chuckled. “No, of course not. I know you’re the daughter of a Duke. Money is too easy for you to come by. No, it has to be something a little more precious.” 

“Name it,” Soleil said, lifting her chin, resolute. 

As if it had been an invitation, Aversa reached out a hand and touched the space just in front of Soleil’s throat, delicately. “Your voice,” she purred. 

Soleil backed up from Aversa instinctively and covered her throat with her hands. “My voice? But wouldn’t that just… You know… Make this whole thing more difficult?” 

Aversa shrugged. “Perhaps that is the point. The human you seek is royalty and well guarded. You will not just be able to waltz up to the palace and claim what you desire. It will be hard without your voice. I cannot explain to you the whims of magic. However, you’re a suave young lady. I believe you can succeed without it. Think of it as a fun challenge.” 

Soleil considered this. Her speech was one of her better assets. She had picked up many a lady with the cool lines she spent years perfecting. Could she do without, though? Could she find that beauty, who she now knew to be a princess, and convince her to share a kiss without her verbal charm? A grin slid across her face as she contemplated it. A fun challenge, indeed. 

“Will I ever have a chance to get my voice back?” Soleil asked Aversa. 

“Only if the contract is broken. But if the three days pass and you make your choice to stay a human or return to the sea, then that is the price.” 

As she said it, a glowing scroll unfurled out of thin air between them. Soleil’s eyes widened and marveled at the thing. She had never seen parchment up close. Usually it dissolved in the sea, but this was protected by some magical barrier. If she became a human, would she see more strange inventions like this? 

“You just need to sign and your first day in the sun will begin.” 

Soleil lifted her gaze, almost unwilling, from the contract to Aversa. “What is this?” she asked. 

“Oh, silly me,” Aversa chuckled. “I forgot. You probably know nothing of written human language. Well, not to worry, it’s just a contract that lays out the details of our agreement. The time constraint, the price, all that. Nothing we haven’t discussed here, I assure you. Having it in writing is just handy to refer back to should anyone violate the rules.” 

“Humans think of everything,” Soleil agreed. 

“You probably don’t have a signature, now that I think about it. If you can’t read, you certainly can’t write. Well, nothing a little drop of blood can’t fix.” 

“Blood?” 

Aversa did not clarify with words. She lurched forward, reached around the suspended document and grabbed on of Soleil’s hands. Soleil realized a second too late that her long black nails were just as sharp as her fangs, and she let out a cry of pain as Aversa sliced a little cut in the tip of Soleil’s finger. A bead of red blood leaked into the water and dissolved. Soleil quickly too her hand back and covered the small wound to prevent anything else from escaping. 

“Press your finger to the document,” Aversa said with a sly grin. She gestured to a straight line of ink at the bottom, under all of the strange swirls and curls drawn all over the page. “What do you say?” 

Soleil didn’t say anything, and perhaps that was a precursor to what she was about to do. Her heart pounded against the wound in her finger, almost as if it were pleading _Let me bleed this desire into reality._

Soleil closed her eyes and pressed her finger to the document. The last thing she heard before she was choking and sinking was Aversa’s rolling laughter, echoing off the coral. 

\--- 

The sun was fresh in the sky when Soleil came to. She was awoken by its attacking glare into her sensitive eyelids. The singing of seagulls and gentle crashing of the sea into a beach took joint custody in soothing her a little. She opened her mouth and sucked in a big gulp of salty air. Air! Soleil’s whole body jolted into consciousness. She sat up, opened her eyes,and looked around. 

The sea stretched out into the horizon, starting several feet from where she lay. She panicked for just a second, seeing it so far out of reach, but she managed to tamper her instinct to jump in. She focused on breathing, feeling the air fill her chest. It was so strange. 

She was still wearing her top made of seashells and seaweed that she had worn when she had snuck out her house the night before. But below her waist… She could feel the difference, a sensation splintered in two, but it was covered by a large red piece of fabric. 

“Oh holy shit. You’re not dead.” 

Soleil lifted her head, tracking the voice. There was a girl. She had a round face, dark skin, huge blue eyes, and long white braids. She was short and thin. Her gangly arms were crossed in front of her. She had legs. She was a human. She was… cute. 

“I thought you had drowned,” the girl said, glaring at Soleil. “I would have gone to get help, but no one is supposed to know I’m here, so… Anyway, I’m glad you’re alive.” 

Soleil was only sort of listening to her. She was staring at her legs. They were covered in dark striped clothes. There were two of them. Soleil returned her attention to herself and lifted the red cloth, eager to compare. 

“Whoa, hey!” the girl shouted. “You don’t want to do that! I think your pants washed away in the sea.” 

Soleil quirked an eyebrow at the girl. What were pants? She just wanted to see her legs, was that so wrong? She started to lift the cloth again. 

“Okay, no, seriously.” Now the girl was throwing herself across the beach to Soleil’s side. Sand kicked up under her legs and some of it flew into Soleil’s mouth. She sputtered it out, distracted as the girl ripped her hands away from the cloth. “This is a _public_ beach. I know it’s empty right now, but it’s still early and people can show up at any time. You can’t just go around with your whole… business hanging out!” 

Were legs scandalous? Soleil opened her mouth to ask and no sound came out. She put a hand to her throat and tried again. Her voice. It really was gone. 

The girl watched this realization dawn on Soleil’s expression and frowned. “Whoa. Are you okay? Did you swallow too much water?” 

Soleil shook her head. She was fine, just voiceless. She smiled for the girl, big and bright. An award winning smile, her dad had told her once when she was younger. 

“Okay…” The girl seemed wary. She didn’t look convinced of Soleil’s good health. “Well, stand up. I’m gonna wrap this around you.” 

Soleil blinked. Stand up? 

“Um, are you sure you’re okay? Maybe I will go find someone… Shit, I’m going to be in so much trouble.” 

Something occurred to Soleil then, staring at this torn girl. She held the cloth over Soleil’s waist delicately and kept glancing back across the beach nervously. She was sticking her neck out for Soleil. She was doing her best to see she was safe. Soleil didn’t want her kindness result in trouble for her. 

She grabbed one of the girl’s wrists to stop her from leaving. Their eyes met and Soleil smiled. She nodded encouragingly. She was fine, really. She could manage. The girl hesitated and Soleil held out a hand, wondering if this was a customary greeting in human as well. 

“Okay,” the girl said. She didn’t take Soleil’s hand right away. She lifted herself out of the sand. Soleil watched with rapt fascination at the way her legs bent and pushed her upper body through the air. It was similar to how her tail moved, but air was not buoyant like water and legs looked flimsy. How did they work so well? 

The girl lowered her hand into Soleil’s finally, hooked their thumbs together and tugged. Hard. 

Using some unfamiliar instinct, Soleil lurched a new body part hidden by the cloth through the sand. It came under her. Her legs parted. The bendy joint pushed into the sand. And then, with the girl’s help, Soleil rose on shaky legs. Finally, the cloth fell away and Soleil was able to see them. 

Two gangly limbs. Pale, like her arms. They bent awkwardly inward, not at all gracefully symmetrical like other humans, though that was entirely due to her inexperience in how to position them. At the end were oblong hands with nubby useless fingers. They were so ugly! Soleil laughed soundlessly in delight. How were they holding up her entire weight? It was fascinating. 

The girl, clearly with a different set of priorities, yelped and dove for the cloth that blew away. To do so, she had to release Soleil’s hand. Soleil pushed air through her throat in a silent scream as she toppled back into the sand. Her tailbone flared in pain. She gritted her teeth. 

“Oh, shit! I’m sorry! I totally- Augh! Okay. Come here. Let’s try again.” 

After another scene of struggling, the girl got Soleil shaky on her feet and wrapped the red cloth around her waist. Soleil was delighted. She could still see her new legs poking out underneath the edge of the cloth. She wiggled her ugly leg fingers into the sand excitedly. 

“Okay, so. You can’t talk. You can barely stand. But you’re not dying. Also, you’re half naked. And I’ve lived here my whole life and I’ve never seen you before. Where did you come from?” the girl asked, scrutinizing Soleil. 

Soleil grinned at her and gestured to the sea. 

“A sailor?” the girl asked. “Did your ship sink?” 

Soleil shook her head and cut a hand through the air around her in a fluid motion. An attempt at mimicking merfolk. The girl just raised her eyebrow. Soleil dropped her arms in exasperation. Then she pointed to herself and back at the sea, this time pointing down. She gestured to her legs. She made a flapping motion like flippers with her palms. She looked imploringly at the girl. 

Her wild flailing must have worked, because after a second round of the same motions something lit up in those blue eyes. The girl took a step back, looking at Soleil with new clarity. “No way. That’s… That’s insane. You don’t actually expect me to believe you’re merfolk.” 

Soleil grinned and nodded. This girl. She was cute _and_ smart. 

The girl looked out into the sea again. The waves coiled gently into white foam against the shore. The sun was halfway over the horizon and covered the surface in a broad streak of glittering orange. In the total serenity of the moment, it almost looked like there weren’t billions of life forms thriving just under those waters. It almost looked completely empty. 

“Nevermind,” said the girl, shaking her head. “That was dumb of me. Of course you’re not a mermaid. I’m just projecting onto you.” Soleil crossed her arms and pouted, but the girl continued. “You’re just lost and confused. And you really need pants. Look, I’ll help you get pants, but only to get my cape back. Then I gotta go. I’m on a tight schedule.” 

Soleil watched the girl move across the beach as the creeping sunlight washed over her. Much like the water, the sun turned her white hair golden. She glittered in her graceful steps, a pro at using her legs after years of practice. It suddenly didn’t matter to Soleil if she believed her or not. She just wanted to know this girl’s name and entire life story. 

As if she had read her mind, the girl stopped in her march up the beach and twisted to face her. “Oh, sorry. I’m Nina. What’s your- Oh. You can’t tell me your name. Shit.” 

Soleil grinned and pointed at the sun. The girl followed her gesture. “Soleil,” she whispered. Soleil beamed and mouthed ‘Nina’ back. 

Then she tried to take a step forward and ended up face down in the sand, her ass flashing the celestial body for which she was called, Nina screaming at her to not be so clumsy. 

\--- 

By the time Nina managed to lead Soleil to any form of civilization, Soleil really thought she was a master walker. It was very much a sink or swim situation, except not at all because Soleil was a much better swimmer than she was a walker. To make matters worse, the surface was not all sand. It was rocky and grassy. There were hills and bumps. She had to adapt her balance to all sorts of new and uneven textures beneath her legs. And Nina was not the most patient teacher she could have ended up with. Anytime they encountered something new, Nina was there at Soleil’s side, barking for her to hurry up. So she learned quickly out of pure necessity. 

The most alarming realization that they were close to town was when Soleil was accosted with all manner of new senses. She could hear loud human conversations, all overlapping each other, filling the open air as best as they could. Structures of stone and wood grew out of the ground, set on a horizontal plane as opposed to how she was used to homes being carved out of vertical strands of coral. But perhaps, the most alarming thing were the smells. There were an overwhelming variety of smells, and Soleil took in air exclusively through her nose so she wouldn’t miss a single one. She didn’t have the vocabulary to describe any of them, but her curiosity was insatiable. The sea smelled like nothing compared to this settlement. It was salty, at best. Flat. Unchanging. Human scents were diverse. They were warm and light and rank, beautiful and terrible all at once, and Soleil adored them all. 

“So, I’m in a bit of a situation,” Nina began, clearly unaware of what Soleil was going through. “Financially, that is. Getting you pants might be tricky. But it’s okay. I actually should be training for this kind of thing. I’ll treat this as a trial run.” 

Soleil tilted her head at Nina. She was pretty sure the reason she didn’t follow had less to do with her culture gaps and more to do with Nina blatantly omitting details. 

“Don’t worry about it,” Nina grunted. She positioned Soleil squatting behind a large round bush on the side of the rocky road. “Okay, I’ll be right back. Stay here and keep quiet.” 

Soleil narrowed her eyes. 

“You know what I mean!” Nina hissed. Then she was off. 

Soleil tracked her as long as she could. She was very nimble and swift on those gangly legs of hers. It was actually quite beautiful. She dodged between trees and the sides of buildings too big to be homes. 

One of the buildings had a big clear wall in the front, displaying a few selections of human clothing. Soleil noticed that all of it looked to be made of the same wispy, light material Nina’s cape around her waist was. Merfolk clothing, like her top, was all made of seaweed and seashells and dead coral. It was hard and sticky, protective from the unpredictable ways of the sea. But this environment was very different. Humans were closer to the sun. Her skin under the rough top she wore was already growing slick with sweat. 

Nina hid up in a tree next to the clothing store. She waited and watched and Soleil watched her in turn, captivated. After only a few minutes, two humans exited the structure, talking loudly. Nina crawled down the tree like a snake, slithered to the door and caught it before it closed. She artfully stuck to the shadows and just out of the peripheral vision of anyone nearby. She was inside, all without either of the other humans noticing. 

The conversation ended and the shop owner returned to his store. Soleil could not see what happened inside, but the next time someone entered, Nina darted around them, clutching a bundle to her chest. She scurried up to Soleil’s hiding place and all but threw herself behind the bush. 

“Here,” she panted, handing the bundle to Soleil. “I got you a shirt too, because that one doesn’t look to comfortable. You’re welcome.” 

Soleil eagerly and unabashedly shed her sea life shirt. She earned a disturbed cry from Nina for it and was urged to put on her new clothes quickly. She obliged, just happy to feel the soft human cloth across her skin. The pants, while they covered her new legs that she enjoyed looking at so much, were less restrictive to her movements than the cape had been. Soleil mourned her inability to properly thank Nina. 

“Okay, Soleil. Not gonna lie, this has been one of the weirdest encounters in my life. But if you’re all squared away, I gotta-” 

A loud bangning noise interrupted Nina. It echoed down the street obtrusively. The humans milling about in the street didn’t seem as bothered as Soleil, but Nina was on her feet instantly. Her eyes were wide in panic. 

“It’s already noon?! Shit! Shit, shit, shit! They probably left without me!” 

Soleil had no way of knowing who ‘they’ were. But she had no chance to ask. Nina sprinted down to the road again, hurtling herself into the busy traffic of town. 

Soleil was not entirely sure why she followed, except that Nina had helped her tremendously and she wanted to return the favor by escorting her to her destination. Though what transpired was much less of an escort and much more of a chase. Soleil chased Nina through the streets, dodging between humans and large land animals and wheeled vehicles. It was a good test of her legs. They sprang in odd directions with her momentum and she stumbled a few times, but she managed to not topple over. Thank the sea her legs were longer than Nina’s or she would not have been able to keep up. 

Nina had stopped her fretful journey on a dock overlooking the sea. Soleil came to a stop next to her and doubled over to catch her breath. Running and breathing were each hard work and she was getting a crash course in both. 

“They left,” Nina whispered to herself. “They’re gone and I’m… here.” She kicked a barrel nearby, then screamed in pain and grabbed at her foot. Soleil winced. 

She had no idea who Nina had needed to catch or what they looked like. But they were at the harbor. Soleil was familiar with boats. For the majority of her life they had been her only encounters with humans. ‘The majority’ meaning everything up to that morning, of course. Thus, Soleil was able to deduce that Nina probably missed a boat. 

Soleil put a hand on Nina’s shoulder, at a loss for how else she could make this better. She wanted to, but without her voice and with barely a skeleton of an idea how human culture operated, she could only be a comforting presence. 

Her hand was met with a small glare. “I’m fine,” Nina murmured. “It was just this… Oyster boat. They were gonna hire me. To. Help them fish for oysters.” 

Soleil put her two fists together then split them apart. An imitation of opening an oyster. She gave Nina a questioning look. 

“Yeah,” Nina sighed. “I’ll have another chance but… I’m kind of in this situation now.” 

The sounds of the harbor filled the silence between them. Bells signalling boats casting off. Seagulls honking. People chatting. Soleil was suddenly very aware of how crowded it was getting. Maybe Nina was too. Soleil was aware of her moving closer. “Come on,” she muttered. “It’s getting crowded.” 

Nina grabbed one of Soleil’s sleeves with her thumb and forefinger. A small gesture, but Soleil noticed it. She let herself be tugged away, not questioning even in her own mind why they needed to stick together any longer. They just did. 

\--- 

“This morning, right before I found you washed up on the beach, I… Escaped from a situation.” 

Nina did not meet Soleil’s eyes, but if she had she would have found Soleil staring at her raptly. They were situated on a bright green hill that overlooked the whole coastal city. The sprawling buildings and long harbor were all bustling with activity. It reminded Soleil of Ylisstol, except brighter. She loved it, but more than that she loved this, by all accounts, random stranger opening up to her. And she loved how natural she felt. Soleil came to the surface to woo the blonde princess she had fallen for, but right now she felt like she had only come to hear Nina’s tale. 

“It’s always been a dream of mine to get out into the sea. To explore. Like my dad did when he was little.” 

Soleil’s eyes lit up. Nina’s father was a sailor? Her grandmother had always told her stories about sailors, and even though she had never met one up close she knew them to be friends. 

“He used to say that there is a lot in the water that we don’t talk about on land. Like… Merfolk. I’ve always wanted to see a merman.” 

Soleil wrinkled her nose. Mer _man? Why?_ But Nina was not facing her to catch her expression of distaste. Her attention was lost elsewhere. 

“That… oyster ship was going to get me out into the sea and I was finally going to prove my dad’s stories. I gave up everything to be on it and now I’m not on it and the next one won’t come for another three days and I have nowhere to go in the meantime.” 

Soleil sat up straighter. Three days? How convenient. An idea came to her, suddenly. Nina was good at getting in and out of place she shouldn’t be. She could probably get Soleil into the castle to see her true love, she had three days to do so, _and_ Soleil could offer her payment in the one thing she wanted most: meeting merfolk. Because even if Soleil accomplished her goal and got a permanent human body, someone would come looking for her eventually. Like her father. He wasn’t the _best_ specimen of a merman, but Nina didn’t have to know that. 

Now if only Soleil could communicate that all to Nina. 

“Sorry,” Nina said, interrupting her scheming. “You not having a voice is no excuse for me to ramble. And I don’t even know you.” She stood up abruptly. “I should go. I need to lie low for a few days and- What are you doing?” 

Soleil had shakily climbed onto her own feet and grabbed one of Nina’s hands in between her own, anchoring her in place. She beamed at Nina, unwilling to contain her excitement and unable to do much else with it. 

Soleil opened Nina’s palm and pressed her forefinger into it. She felt a flash of pain from the pressure against the wound she had obtained signing Aversa’s contract. She did not know how to read or write, but she knew one human phrase that she did not need words for. It was a vibration that was taught to all merfolk. A distress signal. In the face of catastrophe was often the only time merfolk and humans interacted face to face. Soleil tapped Nina’s palm three times, drew three lines and then tapped three times again. Then she looked into Nina’s wide, shocked eyes and grinned. She watched with intense satisfaction as Nina’s expression morphed into surprise. 

“You… Need my help?” 

Soleil couldn’t read or write, but the sea witch could keep her voice. Nina understood her even without it. 

\--- 

“We should _not_ be here,” Nina hissed as they approached a huge iron gate. 

Soleil’s eyes shone with excitement, the exact opposite of Nina’s trepidation. They were hiding just outside a massive human building. Not just any building, of course. A castle. It was, as far as Soleil knew, the home of her true love. 

“Explain to me how coming here helps you?” Nina hissed. “I mean, as best as you can.” 

Soleil pointed to herself and pointed to the castle. 

“If you need an audience with the king, you can request-” 

Soleil shook her head fervently. She didn’t want the king. And she had no time for bureaucracy. She was the daughter of a Duke. She knew how this worked. She held a hand upside down and walked it across the air with two fingers extended, slowly, creeping. 

“You need to sneak in?” Nina groaned. “That’s why you need me. Of course. Well, look, that is the absolute last place I need to be if I’m going to lay low. I can’t help you.” 

Soleil grabbed Nina’s shoulders to stop her from running and then put her hands together in prayer, pleading. 

Nina groaned again. “What would I even get out of it?” 

Soleil pointed at Nina then at the water, which could be seen just over the horizon in the distance. 

“The sea?” 

A nod. A swimming arm, cutting through the air. 

“Merfolk? This again?” 

Soleil nodded enthusiastically. _This again._

Nina groaned. Loudly. Like a child in a tantrum. “Look, Soleil. I just can’t… You can’t be a mermaid! I can’t believe for even a second- That would just be too much and it’s not like you can prove it-” 

Soleil just waited, beaming. Nina was going to help her. Because Soleil had only known Nina for half a day but she already knew that she was a believer. She could sit there and decry Soleil’s claims to the sea all day, her desire to see her dreams realized would prevail. It was the same impulse that had pushed Soleil to sign away her voice for legs and she could see it working its magic on Nina, disguising itself behind a wall of gibberish half sentences. 

Sure enough, Nina groaned loudly. She looked to the sky, collecting her new resolve, and then glared at Soleil. “You _promise_ you’ll introduce me to a merman if I help you?” she asked, not kindly. 

Soleil nodded again. 

“Fine!” Soleil clapped excitedly, a lost laugh on her lips. “What are we looking for? Money? Jewels?” 

Soleil shook her head and pointed to her sternum, or, in nuanced terms, to the thing it protected. 

“Holy shit!” Nina gasped. “Love? With who? A prince?” 

Again, Soleil shook her head and gestured to her chest, though this gesture was a little more crude. 

Nina wrinkled her nose. “You have _seen_ the princes that live here, haven’t you? They’re pretty handsome.” 

Soleil sighed and dropped her hands. She stared levelly at Nina. 

“Ugh, fine. Whatever. It’s your preference, even if it’s a wrong one. You don’t have any idea what her name is, do you?” 

Soleil shook her head. 

“Will you know her when we see her?” 

Soleil nodded, happy again. 

“Okay,” Nina said, nodding in turn with her, then turning to face the castle. She took a deep breath and said, “Let’s go,” before rushing from the brush. 

\--- 

Nina was amazing. Sure, Soleil had no other human expertise to compare her to, but she was absolutely convinced this was the best anyone could be at anything. Nina led her around the massive gate that encircled the castle until they came to a little servant’s entrance into a garden. She pulled a hairpin out of a braid to pick the lock and a little wisp of white hair sprung free immediately. Soleil wondered how many locks Nina had picked already that morning and if the other loose strands throughout her braids were any indication. The garden was empty and Soleil was grateful that they were able to stand because of it. Crouching was hard on her brand new knees. But Nina urged her to be slow and careful as they approached the actual castle. 

Nina was able to tell when people would be in certain hallways, almost as if she had the schedule for the staff of the castle memorized. She put her ear to stone and heard things Soleil was certain no ordinary human could pick up. It was like she had echo location, like a dolphin. And she was just as graceful as one too, dodging around curious glances when they accidentally did run into someone. Soleil had to stay several steps back to keep out of her way, horrendously afraid she would throw off Nina’s amazing tempo. 

They whole time they ducked in and out of servants hallways and deserted decorative rooms, Soleil kept her eyes peeled. She watched Nina for clues that she needed to crouch and hide, but she also stole glances at every woman they passed, hoping to see _her_ woman. None of the humans they had come close to could compare to her beauty, of course, though Soleil thought if it didn’t work out with the princess, she would seriously date any one of the maids that served her. 

At a spiral staircase that led up from a room of portraits into the ceiling, Nina stopped. 

“Up there is Princess Camilla’s room,” she said, pointing to the staircase. “There are a few princesses in the Nohr family, but she’s probably the most beautiful. I guess. That’s what they say, anyway. But I figure she’s a good place to start, regardless.” 

Soleil nodded enthusiastically, fully in agreement. Even if this Camilla wasn’t the person she had seen from the balcony, she _absolutely_ wanted to see the most beautiful princess in Nohr. 

“This is the only way in or out,” Nina warned. “So be careful, and quick. If you fall and get caught, I _will_ bail and leave your ass here.” 

Soleil nodded, her expression set into concentration. She followed Nina as they climbed the stairs slowly, quietly. 

Camilla’s room was huge, with an ensuite that stretched around a corner out of their sight. Everything was ornately decorated in soft lavender silks and carved golden roses. The atmosphere stung with perfume and Soleil instinctively covered her nose. She loved human smells, but it was incredibly overpowering. It seemed empty, so Nina grabbed Soleil’s wrist and dragged her to a stand up wardrobe. She flung open the doors and threw Soleil inside before climbing in herself. She left a door cracked and Soleil marveled at how they could still see the room but were completely covered themselves. Nina, without needing to, urged Soleil to be quiet. And they waited. 

Soleil was caught between two worlds. To her left were the perfumed silk nightgowns of a princess who she imagined to be the woman with the blonde curls. There were a bit long for her, but then that dress had been billowing around her when Soleil had seen her dance on her balcony. She especially noticed the bust on one dress right next to her face. The princess she had fallen for had had her arms wrapped around her chest. Soleil had no way of knowing if she was exceptionally busty. Her face burned with the idea of it being true. 

The other thing that was threatening to take her attention from admiring the clothing of her potential beloved was Nina, pressed into her right side. The wardrobe was hardly big enough for one person, let alone two. Nina had her hands pressed into Soleil’s side, probably unaware of it, focused only on keeping herself steady. But Soleil was aware. The human shirt she wore was so thin, she could feel Nina’s heat through it. She was unsure of what to do with her own hands and, much more aware of all the places they were already touching, put her right hand awkwardly against the wall of the wardrobe just behind Nina’s head. Soleil’s chin was just at Nina’s temple, her nose just at the top of Nina’s hair. She smelled softer than the perfume. Maybe a little dusty. Soleil appreciated it. 

Fortunately, they weren’t stuck pondering that position for very long. The door to the room opened in a flurry of sounds and movement. An entourage of people fluttered in. Soleil was less aware of Nina in that moment than she had been all day, and she crowded toward the little gap they had in the wardrobe to catch a glimpse of the princess. 

There were maids, chattering and fawning over a woman, and Soleil scanned their faces. None of them were her princess. And then she saw her, and her heart sank. 

She was gorgeous, no doubt about it. She had long legs, a dramatic hourglass torso, and a regal manner. But her hair was flowing and purple. And the way she held herself was different. It wasn’t graceless, but it wasn't exactly elegant. It was sexy, with her hip cocked and a posed hand in midair. She was not Soleil’s motivation. 

Soleil wasn’t sure what she mourned more in that moment, the fact that she hadn’t found her soulmate or that she didn’t have a reason to kiss the woman on display now. She felt a tug on her sleeve and looked down into Nina’s imploring blue eyes. She shook her head. Nina furrowed her brow and huffed. 

They had to stay still for another hour while Princess Camilla did her business. Fortunately, no one ever touched the particular wardrobe Nina and Soleil hid in. It was entirely comprised of nightgowns and it seemed Camilla was getting ready for something much more formal. Soleil wondered at how lucky they were in their choice of hiding place. Or maybe that was just Nina’s expertise at work again. When the coast was clear, they slid out of the wardrobe. Soleil felt almost naked without Nina pressed against her anymore, but she kept that opinion to herself easily enough. 

“Well, if it’s not Camilla… Maybe Elise? She’s probably closer to your age anyway, I don’t know why I didn’t think of her first. She’s cute too, even I can see that. With her blonde pigtails and-” 

Soleil jumped in place, excitedly, pointing at Nina. 

“Oh. Wait, is that the girl you’re looking for? Blonde?” 

Soleil nodded, over the moon with excitement. 

“Well why didn’t you just say so? That would have really narrowed it down.” 

Soleil was unable to fully lose her smile, but she did raise her eyebrows at Nina incredulously. Nina chuckled, and Soleil didn’t even have a minute to appreciate that that might have been the first time she heard Nina laugh before a voice from somewhere deep within the ensuite called, “Hello? Princess? Is that you?” 

“Shit!” Nina hissed, already falling into a crouch. “One of the maids must have stayed behind to clean her bathroom or something. Come on! We gotta bail!” 

They fled down the spiral staircase so quickly, it was inevitable that Soleil tripped on the last step. Really, she had done amazing to make it as far as she had. Nina cursed again and knelt to help her up, contrary to what she had said earlier. 

Soleil followed Nina’s gaze as she puzzled out what to do. The door above them creaked open. There were footsteps of guards coming down the hallway that led deeper into the castle. A window nearby showed the setting sun turning the sky purple and orange. “We have to leave for today,” Nina whispered, hauling Soleil to her feet. She was getting pretty good at that and Soleil was appreciative. “We’ll come back for Elise tomorrow.” 

Soleil nodded her agreement and then let Nina lead her from the castle, unsure if she was aware that they were holding hands the whole way out.


	3. Aria

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry about the delay. That happens I guess when you're a slow writer like me and you try juggling two fics at once lol. There's only going to be one more two more chapters of this, so stay tuned and Enjoy!!

Morning on the second day had found a companion in an abrasive pounding sound. Soleil woke up very suddenly. She scrambled out from under the bridge they had been snoozing under and searched for her wake up call.

A group of men crossed over the short arch of the bridge without even paying her heed. They were preoccupied. Each one held a large round object that they pounded on in sync with each other. The objects clearly hated being assaulted like this because they roared back, but still the men pounded in rhythm and marched into the horizon. 

Soleil crawled back under the bridge and gently shook Nina’s shoulder. She wasn’t still asleep. There was no way she could sleep through the noise that had just passed them. But she was sure making a valiant effort of pretending. It was almost stubborn. Soleil incessantly waggled her shoulder until Nina snapped into a sitting position and hissed “ _How_ are you so awake? Is it your name? Are you _actually_ the sun?” 

Soleil grinned and shook her head. And just for good measure, she swam an arm through the air. Nina groaned loudly. 

“Holy shit, I get it, you’re a mermaid. What do you need?” 

Soleil puffed out her cheeks, squared her shoulders and started to pound on the air between her. The booming was still a distant rumble, so it was easy to match up her motion with it. It was like she was borrowing their sound. When she was satisfied with her mime, she smiled brightly at Nina, her head tilted in a question. 

“The drums?” Nina asked just before she yawned. “Yeah, I have no idea what that was about. They must be practicing for a party for a festival or-” 

All at once, Nina was wide awake. Emotion, horror in particular, spread to every inch of her expression. She sprang to her feet with surprising energy and ran out of their overnight shelter, up the grassy hill to the top of the bridge, and sprinted toward town. 

Even though Soleil was paid no explanation toward her bizarre, even slightly alarming behavior, she could not fight the grin on her own face. She loved to run and what was required of her right now was to chase after Nina. So chase she did, the ghost of a laugh bubbling out of her barren throat. 

She found Nina peeking around a tree that sat on a little knoll overlooking the bazarre. Soleil sauntered up to the tree and then decided that she ought to mimic Nina. She was in new territory, better to be safe than sorry. She tucked her body behind the tree as best as she could and peeked over Nina’s head to the village below. 

Every awning and light pole was dressed in multiple shades of green. There were more humans milling about than yesterday for how early it was, and they were all so much more delightful. Everyone was smiling and laughing and spreading the happiness. The clothes they wore were bright, ornately decorated green skirts or vests. Children chased each other through the streets and adults let them, preoccupied with their own good moods. 

Soleil glanced down at Nina and measured her expression in contrast. Eyebrows pinched, lines on her forehead, lips set in a deep frown, nose crinkled into an angry dot. She was a tad pale too. She looked as though she was about to be sick. Whatever was bringing joy to the people of the village was simultaneously sucking it out of Nina. 

Soleil tapped her on the shoulder to get her attention. Nina softened just a little when she looked away from the village, but not entirely. Soleil gestured to the village, her question on her face. 

“What? You're going to tell me you never heard of the Siren Festival before?” 

Soleil’s entire expression blossomed with intrigue. Sirens? If there was a human custom about sirens she needed to know! Her curiosity buzzed in her continued eye contact, causing Nina to sigh deeply and say, “I can’t tell if you’re just acting dumb to make me look stupid? You say you’re a mermaid but that could all be a lie, and if you’re not you should already know about this, but also if you are a mermaid, it really might just hurt your feelings so…” 

Soleil inched closer. Her nose was just a breath away from Nina’s. Nina yelped and pulled back into her own bubble, regaining some color as her face heated up. 

“Did no one ever teach you about personal space? Shit… Okay, don’t say I didn’t warn you. 

“The Siren Festival is not a day of celebration. I mean, they’re partying for sure, but like, we’re not praising sirens or whatever. It’s more like… A warning? The story goes that a generation ago, merfolk would come out of the sea and bring humanity to destruction with their evil magic. So to combat it, humans created a song that would drown out the magic of the sirens and keep us safe. And I guess everyone thinks it worked because death tolls on the sea have gone way down in 30 years. But, I mean, that could also be because less people go sailing? Whatever. Anyway, every year the kingdom throws this big party and everyone plays the song at the same time to remind the merfolk to stay back. And today’s the day.” 

Concern furrowed Soleil’s brow. Sirens evil? Human death tolls? That wasn’t right at all. Merfolk weren’t dangerous, at least not to humans. The first thing babies of the sea were taught after swimming is that the two leggers were kin and if one is found drowning they were to be rescued. Unsure how to communicate all this to Nina, Soleil just looked into her eyes and shook her head. 

Nina pushed a sharp breath between her closed lips, creating a crude sound. Her hands went to her hips. “I told you it would just hurt your feelings. Humans suck. They hate everything they don’t understand, and the sea is this big horrifying mystery to them.” 

Soleil softened as Nina carried on and her gaze drifted. The harbor was visible from their spot over the town. Nina looked at the sea like she didn’t look at anything else on land. Longing and affection. Soleil was transfixed by that expression, feeling as if she was only really looking at Nina when Nina was looking at the sea. 

‘All humans hate the sea’, Soleil thought. ‘All but you. You love it.’ 

When Nina tore her eyes away from the coast and caught Soleil staring at her she sputtered. “What? You need something?” 

Soleil smiled softly and shook her head. She thought she didn’t need anything else in the whole world, land or sea, as long as she had the memory of Nina’s raw emotion in her heart. But then a flash of pink somewhere in the recesses of her mind reminded her that, actually, there was something she needed. She pointed to the castle, its tall towers rising out of the land on the other side of the village. 

“Oh,” Nina murmured. “So. About that. Look, we may have to push our plans back.” 

Soleil’s mouth fell open in (dramatic) astonishment. 

“Just till tonight! They’re going to be decorating all day for the festival. The halls will be swarming with extra help. But when the sun sets they’ll all leave to celebrate with their families and we’ll be able to get around so easily. I’m sorry, okay! Don’t look at me like that! I forgot about the damn festival! I’m sorry!” 

Both of Soleil’s hands rose, palms up, as if offering to Nina her betrayal. How does one _forget_ a major festival one’s own people celebrate _every year_?! 

“I wasn’t supposed to be here, okay! I was meant to be long gone before this crap. Her hands flew to her arms, hugging herself under her red cape. Soleil pulled back. She enjoyed bickering with Nina, but this, whatever it was, cut deeper than she wanted it to. 

“Come on,” Nina said just when the silence was bordering on uncomfortable. “Let’s go into town and lay low until dark.” 

*** 

It was so unfair, Soleil thought, that the sea witch had taken her voice, but not her stomach’s. It rolled and grumbled aggressively. All Nina had asked of her as they slunk behind buildings out of notice was to remain quiet. She thought it was a task she could handle. She was wrong. 

“Are you kidding me?” Nina hissed when a particularly malevolent groan broke her concentration. 

Soleil frowned at her stomach and gripped a couple of the chunky bits in admonition. It just growled back defiantly. 

Nina groaned and reached for her bag. “Listen, I barely have enough food left to feed myself. It was only supposed to last until I got on the boat. All I have is this one piece of bread.” 

She pulled it out into the light and for a second the two of them just stared at it, their stomachs singing a duet of complaints. Finally, Nina rolled her eyes and broke the already meager portion in half. 

“Maybe this will at least tide us over until sunset.” The words were not out of her mouth for more than a breath when a foreign sniffling interrupted them. 

They were standing just beside an alleyway between two buildings. Nina ducked her head around to peer into the darkness and Soleil, ever curious to know more about the human world, followed her. A small, dirty child huddled behind a pile of garbage, his head ducked into his bone thin arms. He trembled with every breath. And the smell. Soleil covered her nose, offended for the first time by a human scent. Flies buzzed around the child’s head, disturbed when he sniffled again. 

At first, Soleil’s reaction was disgust. Where had this filthy child come from? Who had left it here? When Nina spoke up she was momentarily glad she didn’t have a voice to spout out every uneducated thought that crossed her mind. “He’s homeless,” Nina whispered sadly. 

It did not make a lot of sense to Soleil. How could someone be home-less? The word did not translate into her understanding of how society worked. 

There was a sad expression on Nina’s face as she knelt in front of the child. It wasn’t exactly the same as the one she wore when she looked at the sea, but something akin to it at least. It was real. Like Nina was really seeing this kid, really giving him her time and emotion. The kid looked up at her too. He didn’t speak, but there was a plea on his cracked lips. Nina had become incredibly good at hearing the speechless in the past twenty four hours. 

“I’m sorry, Soleil. I know you’re hungry but… he’s hungrier.” She handed the bread to him. 

Soleil knelt by Nina as she urged the kid to eat slower. It would be useless if he made himself sick and lost it all. She watched this wisdom flow out of Nina, and it was like a spell being uttered right before her, transfixing her on this moment alone. 

Perhaps Soleil’s staring came off as more predatory than she meant it. She was genuinely just enamored with Nina’s behavior, but her expression from the outside could come off as though she coveted the soft bread that the child tore apart slowly. Nina caught Soleil and said, “Do you know what it’s like to not have a home or any money to feed yourself? I do. When you’re young like this and that pain is all you feel day in and day out, it seeps into your bones. If it doesn’t kill your body, it will target your spirit.” 

To say it sounded horrifying to Soleil was an understatement. In the sea, no one ever went hungry. Everyone had a home. Food and shelter were abundant. In comparison, the home she had left behind was affluent and gracious. 

Fate allowed Soleil a minute to sit on the ground while the child ate and ponder on the cruelty of humanity. They curse the sea and abandon their own children. What sort of people were the two leggers? She glanced sideways at Nina. Beautiful, brave, open minded Nina. The exception to the rule. Nina had helped a stranger she could barely communicate with at the risk of her own safety, and given the last of her food to a hungry child without a second thought. If there were more humans like Nina, would the adjective ‘homeless’ lose its meaning in the human world as well? Soleil wanted to find out. She could kiss her princess, stay on land, and devote her herself to finding the good people she knew were out there. She could bring their energy together and fix their broken society. Other merfolk could rescue one sailor at a time from drowning. Soleil, given a little more time, could save all the humans on land in one lifetime. 

If she did that, maybe Nina’s of the world wouldn’t be so eager to run away into the sea. Maybe she would stay a while longer. 

“Hey. What’s going on down here? This area is off limits.” 

The voice was sharp and alarming. It did not fit in the tone of the scene at all. The child, filled with a new burst of energy from Nina’s gift, shot to his feet and took off. He was gone like a flash of lightning or a spooked critter. Soleil was startled, but her instinct was never to flee. 

The man who intruded on their dark alleyway was young. Soleil would even dare to call him handsome, at least conventionally speaking. He wore some minimal armor instead of a nice green festival outfit like everyone else. He definitely carried himself with authority. There was something sharp and a little scary in the air following his arrival. Soleil could not quite place what it was, but it had made Nina go completely rigid, like a different kind of spooked critter. 

The man stopped in front of them and crossed his arms, glowering suspiciously. Soleil noticed a sword at his hip. Was he dangerous? 

“Well?” he asked again, because no one had answered his question. “This isn’t really the place for pedestrians. It’s private property. Want to tell me what’s going on?” 

He looked at Soleil, who smiled sheepishly, and then they both looked at Nina. Nina was speechless too. She looked up at the man, her face dark with a blush. Her mouth opened and closed a few times over. Soleil’s stomach lurched in a panic. If Nina couldn’t speak for the both of them, then who would? 

The man seemed just as perplexed by Nina’s behavior. His stern expression softened into confusion and then something else entirely. Something, Soleil realized, way worse. Recognition. “Hey. Don’t I know you from somewhere?” 

_“I… Escaped from a situation.”_ Nina hadn’t said it explicitly, but they were laying low for a reason. She was on the run. And judging by the way her horrified expression contorted after the man’s words, he was not meant to find her. 

Fortunately, the man was very occupied with figuring Nina out. Soleil found it really easy to bend down, pick up a rock, and throw it at a window behind him. The window shattered, the man turned, Soleil grabbed Nina’s arm and dragged her out of the alley. 

Screaming followed them, but Soleil ducked into the crowds of the festival and in a matter of seconds they blended in. She gripped Nina’s arm so fiercely, hoping she wouldn’t sustain a bruise. It took Nina a second longer to snap out of whatever was wrong with her. When she did, she took over navigation. She removed Soleil’s hand so she could grasp it in hers instead and wove through people until they were far from the busy streets. They crouched in a secluded garden behind a big tree. There was no one around. They slumped to the ground and caught their breaths. 

“Sorry,” Nina grumbled as soon as she was able. “I, uh, can’t really… talk to guys.” 

Soleil raised an eyebrow. Was that why she wanted to meet a merman? Because human men made her nervous? What did she think she was going to do when she was out at sea _surrounded_ by little else other than men? Soleil was no expert on human customs, but most of the sailors from the stories seemed to be male. 

Nina met her scrupulous gaze and glared at her. “Don’t look at me like that! I love guys just… from afar. It’s not important. I said stop with your eyes, you weirdo!” 

Soleil softened then. Nina fussing at her was at least normal behavior. She felt better. And the color had returned to Nina’s dark skin again. They were in the clear. 

“Hey,” Nina started bashfully. It was a much different tone than what she had just been using but that was Nina. Hot or cold. Soleil looked at her even though Nina wouldn’t meet her gaze. “Thank you. I mean it. I’d be in big trouble if it weren’t for you.” 

Soleil shook her head and patted Nina on the shoulder. She couldn’t say out loud that she would do anything for Nina, but that didn’t make it any less true. 

Apparently done having feelings for one day, Nina clapped her hands and straightened her shoulders. “Okay. Let’s try this laying low thing again. This time with significantly less getting caught so I can take a brief nap.” Soleil nodded in agreement. In lieu of a meal, a daytime nap sounded lovely. 

*** 

The sun was trying to go to bed, but the townsfolk didn’t seem to want it to. When the skies were dusty dark orange and natural light had all but withered away, the village came alive. The people had spent all day decorating and preparing. Now that it was night, they could reap their reward. Food, company, streets lit by hanging lanterns. A song, the same song, played a dozen ways on a dozen different instruments hovered in the air. It was a beautiful song and no matter how often it was repeated, the people never grew tired of it. They danced on the cobblestones and made so much mirthful noise, Soleil found it hard to focus. Of course, Nina had a solution for that. She whacked Soleil hard on the back of her head to get her to snap back to attention. “Focus!” she hissed. “The festival is dumb anyway, and if you are who you say you are it should offend you.” 

Soleil pouted. Perhaps that had been true before she rested away the pangs of hunger. But now that she saw the people dancing and singing, she couldn’t help but be excited for them. Their happiness was contagious. 

Alas, there was a task a hand. Soleil would be happy enough dancing the night away with strangers, but she only had one day left. She had to see her princess as soon as possible. 

With Soleil’s full attention now in her grasp, Nina led her into the castle. The servants hallways were much emptier than they had been the previous day. Servants had worked all day to decorate the palace for the royal family and then they were dismissed to spend it with their own families. The royal family, in turn, got an evening of privacy, so it all worked out. All that was left on duty were a couple of guards, and they were easy enough to sneak past last time. 

The private wings of the members of the royal family were entirely empty. But Soleil and Nina, rouge strangers that they were, couldn’t very well burst into the ballroom where the royals were celebrating and demand to see Elise. Apparently that wasn’t proper etiquette. So instead, they searched for Elise’s room. And, like last time, Nina navigated the palace efficiently. 

“Okay,” Nina said swinging open double doors into a massive bedroom. “This is Elise’s.” 

Soleil was almost knocked back by the sheer overwhelming volume of ruffles and bows adorning every surface of the room. Every table had a doily, every inch of the floor was covered in soft pink rugs. An armoire was open, showing off rows and rows of human sized baby doll gowns and petticoats to make them poof. The massive four poster bed was overflowing with stuffed toys. It was so cute and so girly. Soleil thought back to her princess, the beautiful pink gown and well manicured curls. Her heart fluttered at the notion that she might be standing in the same living quarters her true love called home. 

“Soleil,” came Nina’s voice, hushed and far away. Soleil turned to see her head poking out of a doorway that led to another part of the suite. “There are better hiding places in here.” 

It was an unavoidable part of the plan that Soleil thought sounded a little creepy. If she wanted to meet her princess, she’d have to hide and wait for her to be here alone. So as much as Soleil wanted to explore Elise’s room more to get to know her better, she dragged her feet into the next room. 

There was a small, ornate sitting room attached to Elise’s bedroom. It hosted a small bookshelf, a fireplace, a couple of sofas, an open balcony that let a breeze in, and several pieces of art. A lot of the art was still life. Flowers or fruits arranged on a table. They bled color and an extra pop of girlish aesthetic into the otherwise ornate surroundings. But there was one huge portrait above the mantle that stole Soleil's attention from everything else. It was of a young woman, her face round with youth and her eyes bright with wonder. She had blonde hair that fell in spirals out of two bows on her head, but it was a little different from Soleil’s princess. The pigtails were much longer and woven in were strands of purple. It was just a painting, but the texture seemed different as well. The curls were looser. And it wasn’t just the hair. The way this woman’s shoulders were held and the posture of her back. It had just been a glance, but in that glance Soleil had seen her princess’s soul, she was certain. She was a lady, refined, polite. This woman was playful, bubbly and childlike. There was nothing wrong with all that, but it was clear to Soleil that this, whoever this was, was not her princess. She held out hope that it wasn’t Elise either. 

She went to Nina, who was poking around a table with a long cloth draped over it, perhaps silently interrogating it for information related to its potential as a hiding place, and poked her on the shoulder. Nina looked up at followed her pointing finger to the portrait. 

“Yeah?” she said, glancing at Soleil. “That’s Elise. That’s who you’re here for, right?” 

Soleil’s heart sank. Her disappointment was plain. Nina groaned loudly and straightened her shoulders. “Man. You gotta be kidding me.” 

They stood there for a heartbeat, relishing in their defeat. The breeze ruffling the curtains near the balcony was the only noise in the room for that still moment. When it reached Soleil and kissed her face, she smelled the salt of the sea. It was soothing. Like a mother’s embrace. She found herself walking into it and out onto the balcony before she knew she was doing it. Legs were strange creatures. Did they often have a mind of their own? 

“Where are you going? We need to get out of here before we’re caught.” Nina had already shifted her priorities. Escape. Regroup. Accuse Soleil of imagining everything. She had every right to. Her plans had been derailed and she was instead being dragged on an illicit wild goose chase with a mute girl who didn’t have a clue. Soleil ignored her for now, gliding across the balcony and leaning into the railing, sucking in a deep breath of the sea, trying to recall that scene of the princess. 

For as much as it appeared as thought she was trying to leave it all behind, the sea never led Soleil astray. When she opened her eyes, her course of action was clear. Across a little private cove on a separate wing of the palace was another balcony. A balcony she recognized. The little rock that she had perched on was just a stone’s throw away from the shore in front of it. 

Soleil ran into the sitting room, latched onto Nina’s wrist, and dragged her, hollering, out onto the balcony. “Wrong way!” Nina growled. “The exit is-” 

Soleil cut her off by shaking her head and pointing emphatically across the cove. That was where her princess had been that night Soleil had fallen in love. She was sure of it. That was where she needed to go next. 

Nina frowned at the balcony. “That’s Princess Kana’s room.” 

Soleil brightened. Kana! That had to be her! She tugged on Nina’s sleeve, encouraging her to elaborate. Nina looked at Soleil with a raised eyebrow. 

“Didn’t you want to break into the palace to meet up with someone you love?” 

Soleil nodded. 

“Yeah, listen, the lady you love can’t be Princess Kana. She’s-” 

The door to the room opened, effectively closing Nina’s mouth. Her eyes widened and so did Soleil’s. They were trapped. 

“The book Leo is asking for is in my sitting room.” 

“Allow me to get it, Princess.” 

“No, it’s okay, I can-” 

“Soleil,” Nina hissed, urgently. She pointed to the outside wall near the balcony railing. A trellis, home to climbing green vines, was within reach and scaled all the way to the ground one floor down. “Climb. Now.” Soleil did not need to be told twice. 

Soleil had been with legs for all of two days. She had learned how to run the hard way and it seemed she would learn to climb in the same conditions. Underwater, she hadn’t exactly been clumsy. She was never as graceful as the rest of her family and sometimes she ran into things when she was absorbed in her daydreams about girls. So far, being on land was different. She seemed to be even better at using her legs than she ever had been with the fin she’d grown up with. Perhaps it was because Nina was counting on her. Somehow, Nina’s scorn was worse than that of her gentle grandmother’s. In fact, she was so good at climbing in that moment, she was even better than the girl above her who had significantly more time in life to practice. 

A soft, muffled grunt escaped Nina’s mouth. The sound of friction accompanied it and Soleil looked above her just in time to see Nina’s foot slip hard against the trellis and hang in the air lamely. She covered her mouth to hide her cry of pain and her eyes clamped shut. She had hurt herself. 

“Hello?” called a high pitched voice from above. Footsteps on the balcony drew ominously close. 

Soleil made a very quick assessment of the situation and decision on how to handle it. She judged the distance between her body and the ground and then leapt, hard, onto her new feet. Before her body could register the new pain, she tossed a small pebble up at Nina to get her attention, aiming for her lower back and not throwing hard. Nina looked down to see Soleil standing on the beach below the balcony, her arms outstretched to catch Nina. There was no time to argue. Nina pushed away from the wall and fell like a sack of lead into Soleil’s arms. They rolled into the shadow of the balcony using the momentum. 

“Princess?” called a faint voice from inside the palace. “Who are you talking to?” 

There was a pause where Soleil, silent though she was already forced to be, held her breath to quiet her heartbeat. She did not even peek out of the shadows to see if they had been caught. She held Nina close and they kept each other quiet. 

Finally the high pitched voice from earlier said, “Hm, no one. I must have been imagining it.” 

The footsteps moved away from the balcony and the doors shut behind them with a soft click. Nina and Soleil, who were pressed so close together they might as well be sharing one body, relaxed at the same time. Then Nina released a soft whine. 

“I sprained my ankle,” she hissed, pulling away from Soleil’s protective embrace to display her bad foot. “Shit. It really hurts. But we’ll get caught if we stay here too long. We’re out in the open. Guards, even the ones that work on the holidays, patrol this beach.” 

The palace was built with its back to the sea. The expanse of its many wings and rooms carried on along a long narrow beach. The water rolled gently in and out across the sand. Soleil’s gallavants in the human world had been fun, but it was nice to be even this much closer to home after such a close brush with trouble. 

The moon was nearly full and its glittering silver reflection danced in the flow of the sea. It could have been dancing to the sound of the music, which came faint from every direction. Soleil and Nina were far removed from any semblance of a festival at this point, but when a whole kingdom sang the same song at once it carried. 

“Help me up,” Nina grunted, holding out her hand. Soleil scrambled to her feet and pulled on the hand with both of hers. Nina was up, but only put her weight on one leg. This, of course, caused her to tilt into Soleil’s chest. Soleil felt her face heat up. She hadn’t had the extra energy to feel embarrassed before about Nina’s proximity, but now she did. They paused in that position for a beat and then Nina cleared her throat. 

“If we follow the beach, we should be able to just leave the palace grounds. We need to go now, though. While security is still light. When it gets much later and the civilians go to bed, night guards will return to work.” 

She slung the arm on her bad side around Soleil’s shoulders to use her as a crutch. Soleil, who was just a tad taller than Nina, had to crouch as they walked. It was definitely a challenge. She was good at using her legs, but she had just climbed and jumped for the first time all at once and her knees were exhausted. The soft, difficult terrain of the beach and the extra weight did not help. They were clumsy and stumbled a few times. But slow and steady, they would make it out of there. 

Or, at least, they had hoped as much. They ran a long way until a door on their level of the beach opened. The sand was flooded with light, music, laughter. Nina clutched tightly into Soleil’s shirt and Soleil obeyed her silent order to melt into the shadows. 

Two men stepped out onto the sand, arms wrapped around each other, affection buzzing in their aura. Soleil could not make out many of their details. She and Nina were partially hidden by a shrub, but the men were illuminated in light from inside. The shorter of the men had fair features and was decorated in medals and a purple sash. Royalty, probably. The other man was not so intensely dressed up and had a more relaxed manner to him. He wore a black eyepatch, a symbol of a much harder life behind him. He also had, Soleil noticed with piqued interest, white hair that glittered like waves on the sea. Just like Nina. 

“You’re positive about calling off the search?” the regal man asked in a hushed voice. 

“Leo, that’s the fifth time you asked me tonight. I told you to let it go and try to enjoy the party.” 

“Apologies, I just… She’s going to be my child too soon enough and I’m trying to learn. Are you certain there isn’t more we can do?” 

The man with white hair put a hand under the one called Leo’s chin and lifted his gaze. “I know it sounds crazy, but I’m sure. I know my little girl better than anyone else. This is just how she is. She needs to process things on her own terms. An officer in town saw her today and said she looked healthy. That’s all the confirmation I need. She didn’t run off with those pirates and she’s not in danger. She will come home when she’s ready. We just have to give her the space she needs to make that decision on her own terms.” 

Leo sighed and leaned his head into the other man’s shoulder. “I can’t help but feel as though this partly my fault. She’s missing out on your first Siren Festival in the palace. Because of me.” 

The other man chuckled, despite the heavy subject. “Ah, no biggie. She’s always hated the festival anyway. That’s just how Nina is.” 

Soleil’s eyes widened and she turned her attention to find Nina right away. She was there, of course, pressed quietly into Soleil’s side. Crying. How long had that been going on? 

The very important conversation was interrupted when Camilla and Elise rushed outside to drag the men back to the party. Soleil did not even send them a parting glance. She didn’t even try to peek inside to see if her princess was there. She was focused on Nina. One of her hands hovered in the air behind Nina’s back, unsure how much comfort was needed or wanted and entirely unable to ask. 

The door to the palace shut in the sounds of celebration and Nina finally choked out a real sob. She cried out just a couple of times, then sniffled and wiped her face off. When she was finished, she finally looked Soleil in the eyes. Hers were red tinted and wet, but she put on a brave face otherwise. 

“Yes,” she said, as if Soleil had asked her a specific question. “That was my father. And yes, I was trying to get on a pirate ship, not an oyster boat. And also… he’s wrong. I’m not coming back. Those pirates are going to take me in, no questions asked and I’m going to be out as sea. No one else will take me because my dad is marrying a prince. But I don’t belong here. Neither does he, but he won’t listen to me. He’s delusional if he thinks he can find happiness in this castle. It’s on land. It’s not us. We’re sea people.” 

There was so much venom in her speech. She had clearly spent a lot of time bottling up her feelings on the matter and she seemed very convicted. But Soleil knew about pirates. They went out to sea often enough. Merfolk were warned about them. They could be dangerous, even after being rescued. Nina was tough, but if she got into trouble in the middle of the sea there would be nowhere to run or hide. 

Soleil didn’t argue because she was incapable. Perhaps that's what made her such a good companion. Nina sure seemed satisfied having finally found someone to whom she could vent her plans and not receive any counter arguments from in return. Soleil simply furrowed her brow and helped Nina up so they could continue along the beach. 

The private beach of the palace extended into the beach where Nina and Soleil had met. Soleil saw that morning with better clarity now. Nina had snuck out of the palace, where she lived, in hopes of catching a boat before it left harbor. Instead she had stopped to help a poor naked mute who had washed up on the sand. 

They both paused, admiring the endless beauty of the sea. Nina tried to stand on her foot again and hissed. Tears jumped to her eyes. The seal on her tears had been broken and she was just an inch away from another breakdown any minute now. 

“What am I going to do if my foot is really messed up?” she whined. “The pirates don’t care about my name, but they sure will care about my health. I can’t be a limping rouge!” 

So far in her journey, Soleil had done a remarkable job of getting around without her voice. She owed all of it to Nina, of course, a person so obviously overflowing with empathy that she could understand all of Soleil’s unspoken needs. She was far too good for pirates. Unfortunately, even with their exceptional communication Soleil could only tell Nina so much. Speech was currently not her strong suit. She could repay Nina, hopefully remind her that she was worthy of the best life possible, through action. 

The music of the festival was beginning to fade as people all over the kingdom went to bed. But if Soleil strained her ears, she could still pick up a beat. That was all she needed. A beat. 

She dragged Nina to the shallows of the water. Nina hissed and shouted as the sea rolled over her leather boots. Soleil put Nina’s hands on her shoulders to continue supporting her when she went down. 

“What are you doing?” Nina gasped. 

Soleil winked up at her and started to remove Nina’s shoes. For her part, Nina did not fight. She let Soleil remove her boots and toss them into dry sand. They stood barefoot in the wet sand together and Soleil wiggled her toes experimentally. She grinned. Nina glanced away bashfully. She was still waiting for an answer to her question, so Soleil wrapped her arms around Nina’s waist and pulled her close. Nina yelped, but her body folded into Soleil for support. 

When Soleil did this underwater she had never been as graceful as her father or grandmother. Now she even had to adjust for the fact that she had legs instead of a tail and that Nina’s foot was no good. She had to be careful. The magic was potent, but she was pretty confident this would work. 

As soon as she was certain she had the beat, Soleil took a step. Then another, and another until she was kicking up surf to the tune of the music. The particular song didn’t matter, it was the moves that she had to get right. Nina followed her as best as she could, but Soleil had to basically carry her. As long as her bad foot was in the water, it was fine. As they settled into the rhythm, Soleil thought she might even be better at this on land than she had been with a big bulky fin. 

Clearly she was doing something right because after just a few steps, the water below them started to glow. It turned from white to golden. A little spot of magical light that followed the girls around as they glided through the water. 

“Oh shit,” Nina gasped. “What is happening? My foot- It’s-” 

Soleil answered her by suddenly twirling Nina out. She held on with one hand, but Nina was forced to, in that moment, put weight on her bad leg. The little circle of light lashed out into an oval to accommodate their spread out bodies. And Nina gasped, her eyes glancing between it and Soleil’s long grin. 

“You… Healed me… Soleil, are you… Is this…” 

Soleil’s grin split into an open mouth smile, her place holder for a hearty laugh. She twirled back into Nina and carried on, bouncing to their waists into the sea. Occasionally Nina would lose her footing and fall into Soleil and Soleil would just help her back up to show her that she was okay. She was fixed. 

What Soleil couldn’t communicate to Nina was that this was her birthright. A special magic bestowed on her family by the sea itself and passed down from generation to generation. It was a spell that brought healing and comfort. It was not evil. It was not dangerous. This dance was the Siren’s Song.


	4. Duet

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> HAPPY BIRTHDAY SOLEIL, the last full length chapter of this fic is finally here and I managed to crank it out just in time for a special someone's special day.  
> I'm going to upload a short epilogue maybe tomorrow or monday, but this is basically the end of it all. I just have a few loose ends to tie up. Um, anyway, sorry that it took so long. So much for mermay, it took me 4 months to write this lol. But I hope you enjoyed it. Pls support Solnina is the best ship ever. Thank you for reading and I hope everyone is enjoying FE3H!! WOO!!

It was a now or never situation. Dawn broke on the third day and Soleil awoke with passion burning in her chest. She had mere hours to locate and kiss her princess, or her contract with the sea witch would expire and she would go back to the water the way she had left it, minus one voice. What’s more, her dad was sure have noticed she was missing by now and would be scanning the sea for her. He couldn’t walk on land in the way she did, but the laws of the natural world did not hold power over a parent's panic. He would find her. And probably before the time limit on the deal. Time was of the essence.

Nina and Soleil were silent during their third break in of the palace. They operated flawlessly together by now, no need to communicate beyond the occasional glance or gesture. Yet, watching Nina work had not lost its magic, even though Soleil now had context for how she moved through the palace so easily. She had lived here. She had probably snuck out many times. 

Soleil kept summoning the image of Nina’s tearful proclamations the night before. She stood in defense of the sea against everything her culture taught her. She was willing to leave her family to follow her dreams. In comparison, Soleil had taken her whole life for granted. She would trade it all for Nina, if she could. Maybe if she found her princess and got to keep her legs, the sea witch would let Nina take her place among the merfolk. Soleil bet she would love that. In the sea, there were no borders or walls and the children never starved. And there were _plenty_ of mermen for her to meet. Soleil would miss her family but, just as Nina would do anything for the sea, she would do anything Nina. 

They slipped into Princess Kana’s chambers long before any of the staff came for her. The princess would still be asleep, Soleil had been warned. Even though the sun was rising everyone was recuperating from the festival. Soleil’s heart was pounding as Nina soundlessly opened the door. She wasn’t quite sure what her feelings were. Was she excited to finally see the princess she was so sure was her soulmate? Or was she anxious? This moment had been building for two days and now she wasn’t sure what would happen when she finally saw those blonde curls and gorgeous face. 

The room was huge and dark. The only light coming in after they closed the door behind them was the sunrise filtered through drapes on balcony doors. Soleil took one step forward and something squeaked under her foot, earning her a fiery glare from Nina. 

“Watch where you step,” Nina whispered. Then she went on. 

Soleil looked down to find a toy under her shoe. A stuffed animal with a noise maker inside. In fact, the whole room was littered with toys. She remembered walking into both Camilla and Elise’s rooms and thinking that the decor could match up with the regal princess she had seen dancing a few days ago. This scenery did not give her the same hope. It was a mess. But all she could do was raise a skeptical eyebrow and follow Nina deeper. 

The toy room connected to a smaller bedroom. But, Soleil realized with a sinking sensation, there was no bed. There was something entirely different. 

“Well,” Nina said in a low voice. “Your princess awaits.” She gestured to the piece of furniture in the back of the room. 

Soleil approached it slowly, already forming an idea of what she thought she would find. She put her hands on the edge of the crib and looked down into the peacefully sleeping face of a baby. 

“Excuse me. What’s going on?” 

The voice came from the doorway of the nursery. It was low pitched, but melodic. The baby stirred at its call and Soleil turned. Her eyes first went to Nina, who was standing between the open door and the wall, undiscovered. Then her eyes went to the stranger, and they widened. 

Soft blonde ringlets, a flowing pink dress. The regal, dignified stance. That lovely face. It was the princess she was looking for, no doubt. Only... 

Nina caught Soleil’s expression and her mouth stretched open into a shit eating grin. “Wait. Is the person you’ve been looking for _Forrest_?” 

“Nina?” the blonde startled as Nina stepped out from behind the door. “Where have you been? Who is this? Why is she with Kana?” 

But Nina was focused on Soleil. Her hands were on her hips her head cocked to the side. Soleil just nodded and then Nina laughed. “Forrest, meet Soleil. I’ve been helping her out for a couple of days. Soleil, this is Prince Forrest. My soon to be step brother.” 

She laughed again and Soleil knew why. Soleil had expressed emphatically that she thought girls were the finest creatures on the planet and made it clear that the person she was looking for was the finest of the fine. Nina probably thought she was disappointed. Truth be told, she was, but not because her ‘princess’ was a boy. Forrest was just as lovely as he had been when Soleil thought she had fallen for him a few days ago. It would be Soleil’s utter pleasure if he was indeed her soulmate. But he wasn’t. 

No, the reason Soleil’s heart was beating so fast was because Nina’s laughter, unrestrained, unafraid, was the most beautiful thing she had ever heard. Soleil was pretty sure she was in love. Proper love, this time. She realized with a start, that her motivation to stay a human had shifted. Perhaps long ago. 

A cooing sound lifted into the air behind Soleil and she turned to see two wide silver eyes blinking up at her. Baby Kana had the royal family’s trademark good looks too, with her wispy silver hair and long eyelashes. She gurgled pleasantly and Soleil obliged her by picking her up. In lieu of being able to babble along with her, Soleil blew encouraging raspberries. 

“You know her, right?” Soleil heard Forrest ask Nina. His soft voice was laced with a quiver of trepidation, and with good reason. She was a stranger holding a baby he cared for. A baby he had bundled up into his arms and danced with one beautiful night on the balcony attached to this very room. 

“Yeah, she’s cool,” Nina said, finally getting a handle on her laughter. 

To help prove her right, Soleil crossed the room, bouncing the baby as she walked and handed her over to Forrest. He took her, balanced her on his hip effortlessly, and then let Soleil and Nina share his accusatory look. “Are you going to tell me what’s going on?” 

Soleil looked at Nina. Nina looked at the carpet and bit her lip. Whatever mirth had been brought out of her at Soleil’s expense had deflated under the weight of reality. She looked as though she may be struggling for words, so Soleil decided to step in. 

One arm rose into the air, horizontal. Soleil hovered it there for dramatic effect before the bouncing, swimming motion she had made so many times. _Mermaid._ Then she pointed to herself. _Me._ A hand over her eyes and she scanned the room, searching for nothing. _Looking._ She gestured to her chest- 

“Soleil is a mermaid,” Nina blurted, putting a hand on one of Soleil’s before she could properly grope herself and lowering it back to her side. She gave Soleil a pointed look before turning back to Forrest. “I mean, probably. She can’t speak, so I’ve been helping her out. That’s where I’ve been the past couple of days.” 

Forrest relaxed his shoulders but he still did not look pleased. “Everyone has been really worried. Especially Dad. I thought he was going to cancel the Siren Festival and have the whole city look for you.” 

Nina rolled her eyes. “Well I wouldn’t have objected to that.” 

“Niles talked him out of it. He said you’d be back. I guess he was right.” 

Before Nina could, presumably, explode with rage, Soleil stepped in front of her. She made her face stern and shook her head in defiance. Forrest was beautiful, but if he made Nina cry, so help him. 

“Sorry?” Forrest said, taking a step back. The hip he balanced baby Kana on tilted away from Soleil protectively and he looked up at Nina. “Did I say something wrong?” 

Soleil followed his gaze over her shoulder as well. She was prepared to be angry, but she wanted to see how Nina had taken his words. Nina was already looking at Soleil, her eyes wide and their gazes locked. The indignation fled as something softer took its place. Something that tickled. She was not used to these true sensations of adoration. 

“I didn’t come back,” Nina finally squeaked, tearing her gaze away from Soleil, back to Forrest. “I told you, I was just helping Soleil. My dad is wrong. I don’t plan on coming back. I don’t belong here.” 

Forrest looked like a guy who gave special care to his skin. Soleil feared that it would all be for naught if he kept deepening the crease between his eyebrows. “Your family is here,” he said quietly. 

“But it’s not my… my habitat. I belong in the sea.” 

Forrest blinked. His crease evaporated. “The sea?” He looked at Soleil. “Wait. Did you say you’re… A mermaid?” Soleil nodded, her expression smug. Guilty as charged. 

“She promised she would introduce me to a merman,” Nina said, her voice withering as the sentence wore on. 

“And you believed her?” 

“W-Well,” Nina sputtered. “I had nothing else going on. I was avoiding my dad. And I figured… Just in case she was telling the truth…” 

Soleil looked out the window. The sun was higher now than it had been when they arrived. Even from so far away, she could tell that the water lapping at the palace’s beach was more aggressive than usual. Almost as if a whole host of merfolk were swimming around frantically looking for a missing siren. Perfect timing. Soleil needed to get down to the beach and she needed to take Nina with her to collect her reward. She decided she wanted to do it before Forrest and Nina circled back to exactly what Nina had promised to help Soleil do in exchange for meeting a merman. After all, she didn’t want to kiss Forrest anymore and that would be too awkward a conversation to have, voiceless or otherwise. 

Soleil tugged on Nina’s sleeve and pointed to the window emphatically. 

“Where could you possibly want to go now? I thought this was what you wanted,” Nina hissed. 

Soleil nodded, then pointed at Nina and pointed at the window. 

“I can’t just leave now, I’ve been caught. Like, officially.” 

Soleil walked two fingers across the air, sneaking. 

“No we can’t sneak away! Forrest is standing right here! I thought you had a decent grasp on stealth by now I guess I was wrong. Besides, I thought you were doing this for love, why are you suddenly so eager to leave?” 

Soleil dropped her arms to the side and looked to the ceiling in a dramatic, soundless groan. 

“Are you shitting me? Of all the ungrateful-” 

“Nina?” Forrest cut in. “Are you… arguing with a mute person?” 

Nina whirled on Forrest. “I’m very good at arguing. Why? Do you want to join in?” 

“No, not particularly.” Before he could elaborate, the baby on his hip let out a little cry of want. Forrest cooed at her and then said, “She wants her breakfast. But I’m not letting out of my sight. So follow me, please, Nina.” 

Soleil put both of her hands on Nina’s sleeve and tugged her toward the window. She couldn’t lose Nina now, not when she owed her so much. And, selfishly, she wasn’t ready to let go yet. 

“Soleil, I, oh shit, fine, I’m coming!” 

“Nina!” 

“If you don’t want to let me out of your sight then you better follow, Forrest,” Nina warned. Then she smirked. “Just try to keep up.” 

The girls bolted from room. It was exhilarating. Every minute spent in these halls had been creeping, slowly, with her knees bent and Soleil hated it. She loved running, feeling the air crisp in her throat and filling her lungs. She loved stretching her legs out long in front of her, the carpet rushing past, details of the human world blurring in her peripheral. Forrest must have quickly found a maid to hand the baby over to, because he was hot on her heels, holding his skirts up around his thighs as he ran. 

They ran past startled guards and maids who did not stop them, recognizing members of the royal family. A few people noticed Nina in particular and gasped, and some even scurried away to report her return to someone. Nina didn’t seem to care. She let out a sharp laugh and it was like the sound of freedom ringing off the walls. 

Soleil wondered what Nina planned to do after this. Was she still going to join the pirates, or was she going to submit to her parents when she was caught? Maybe Soleil could get her father to fetch the sea witch and bargain to have Nina take her place before anyone found them on the beach. Nina would be safer in the sea. And happier. Soleil was sure of it. 

The three of them stumbled onto the beach, Soleil panting for breath, Forrest falling to his knees in the sand. Nina scanned the waters, her own breathing steady and controlled. She was used to running. Soleil wanted to make it so that she never had to run anymore. 

“What is happening here?” Nina said. She was referring to the choppy waters against the clear blue sky above. 

Soleil grinned like someone who knew too much and started to kick off her shoes. She stepped into the water, just enough so that her ugly little toes were submerged, and knelt. With one finger extended, she traced rhythmic dance pattern on the water’s surface. The ripples from her finger stretched out against the waves. The water stilled. Soleil took a breath. Then another. 

“What is going on?” she heard Forrest whisper to Nina. 

Nina did not have time to answer. There was stillness in the sea for just a moment, and then there was a head lifting out of the water. Soleil stood, beaming, ready to greet her father or her grandmother or any of the merfolk she knew from back home. But the head that appeared was crowned in white hair and she tilted her own head curiously. 

“We meet again,” Aversa the sea witch cooed as she stood. Soleil noticed with a start that she had her own legs. She wore a dress and, slinky as it was, it still covered her more than Soleil had been when she had emerged from the sea. Her gait as she walked from waist deep water to the shallows where Soleil stood was sure and true, not the awkward stumbling Soleil had started out on. 

It was not who Soleil had been expecting, but she smiled regardless. It was who she wanted to see most after all. 

“I see you have not yet kissed your princess,” Aversa observed. 

Soleil smiled amicably and pointed to the beach where Forrest and Nina stood side by side, Forrest dusting off his skirts. She couldn’t tell the whole story to the sea witch, but she could do her best. She started to pantomime her desires. 

Aversa laughed. “How cute. Have you been trying to get by with hand signals? Wouldn’t you rather-” There was a step between those words and Aversa’s next. Because when she next opened her mouth, what came out was not the deep, raspy cadence of the sea witch. It was lighter. Flirtier. Too familiar. “Use your own voice?” 

The first thing Soleil thought was that it was strange hearing her voice come out of someone else’s mouth. Then, inexplicably, she felt a little sick about it. She took a couple of steps out of the water, backing away from Aversa as she continued forward. The sky above had suddenly grown dark and a fierce wind had kicked up. There was animosity all around her and she couldn’t explain it. She had thought the sea witch to be a friend, but this atmosphere did not feel friendly. 

“I think it’s about time I introduce myself properly,” Aversa said, still using Soleil’s voice. “I am Aversa, the witch of the sea and loyal servant to Grima, the god of annihilation. You, being young as you are, have probably never even heard of Grima. He used to hold great power over the world. But when the sea created the sirens, he was thought to be destroyed. That wretched song of healing… Every single time one of your kind sang that song to calm a storm he withered a little more. But he’s still alive. Deep in the dark abyss of the waters. He’s been waiting.” 

Soleil scrambled across the sand to where Nina and Forrest were shocked still. They were just watching with wide eyes, captivated by the beauty in the water. Soleil needed them to run. She wasn't sure why, but this wasn’t safe. The wind was getting stronger. 

Aversa rolled back her head and laughed loudly. Soleil had never laughed like that, maniacal and horrid. She was shocked to find out her voice could even make such an evil noise. “Well the wait is over! I finally have it! I have stolen the Siren’s Song right from the throat of one of the sea’s precious children! And I can use it to wreak annihilation on the sea and land alike. Grima will rise again, finally! And who knew it would be so easy? Who knew all I had to do to get the most protected power in the world was offer a little mermaid some legs?” 

“Soleil?” Nina asked, her voice quavering. “What is she talking about?” 

Soleil looked up into Nina’s face. Her blue eyes, bluer than the sea under the dark sky now, were moist with worry. Soleil wanted to say something to ease her fears, but even without her voice she didn’t know what to say. She didn’t understand it either. It made no sense. There were threads in Aversa’s words that were not connecting to the reality Soleil understood. Her mouth fell open, unsure what to do. 

“You’ll understand soon enough, human,” Aversa said. “Once you hear my song, you’ll understand.” 

And then, without further delay, Aversa took a deep breath and let out a note. The result was a little unexpected. Soleil’s voice in her mouth cracked and shrieked. She swallowed and tried again. Her voice sounded like something was trying to crawl its way out of Aversa’s throat before it died. She sang a full line of some song that only sounded vaguely familiar to Soleil and sounded even less like a passable tune. 

The three on the beach braced themselves against the horrible performance. Soleil gripped one arm around Nina and one around Forrest, unsure what was about to happen but properly frightened by Aversa’s threats. But nothing happened. The winds died down, the sky started to clear. Aversa tried again and again to sing a note, any note, but Soleil’s voice was not cooperating. 

“What?!” Aversa shrieked in her own voice. “What is going on? Why isn’t it working?” 

“I guess no one ever told you that some decades ago we changed the Siren Song into a dance? Soleil never learned to sing, which is probably for the best. She can’t carry a tune to save a life.” 

A sharp gasp found refuge in Soleil’s otherwise barren mouth as a pink head of hair lifted out of the water. A man bobbed up to his waist. Water glistened off of his skin. A flash of his white scaled tail splashed beside him as he settled into the sand of the beach’s shallows. Soleil felt a tight grip on her forearm and turned toward Nina. 

“Is… Is that…” 

Soleil just grinned and nodded. Yup. That was a merman. Not just any merman either, it was her father, Inigo. But she would explain that to Nina later. If she ever could. 

“Soleil young lady, I have been scouring this whole sea looking for you! You worried your grandmother sick. What are you doing out here on land with human legs? If you wanted to visit the surface you could have at least asked me first.” 

Soleil blushed and shrugged apologetically. Then she gestured to Aversa, who was fuming. 

“We made a contract,” Aversa growled. “Legs for the Siren Song. And you can’t give it to me? Well, the contract is broken.” She waved her hand into the air beside her. The parchment of the contract appeared beside her and then burnt up in flame. It fell as ash into the water beside her. “I ought to turn you into sea foam for tricking me.” 

“No!” Inigo cried. But before he could reach Aversa, she was already on land, marching toward Soleil. 

Nina stepped in front of her and was awarded with a vicious slap to the face. 

“Nina!” Soleil cried. She blinked. Her hand went to her throat. Nina looked up at her from the ground, her pain forgotten in the shock that crossed her face. 

Aversa did not share in their moment of hesitation. She tore Soleil’s hand away and grabbed her throat herself. She had incredible strength and Soleil felt her airways crush. The pain was searing. She couldn’t breathe. With incredible strength she lifted Soleil into the air one handed. Soleil kicked her legs uselessly. And then, awkwardly, she felt her pants rip. And she couldn’t kick her legs anymore. All she could do was flap her long mermaid tail. 

“I have to start over from the beginning,” Aversa growled at Soleil. “All these years, wasted. You are useless and you will live out the rest of your life that way. Not even birds will pick at the crud I will turn you into.” 

She started back into the water but was stopped when Inigo flopped into her path, the water just an inch deep around him. He was panting. 

“Please, don’t hurt my daughter,” he pleaded. “You want the siren song? Take my voice. I was the last generation to learn it. But please, in exchange, return Soleil to me unharmed.” 

There was a tremor in his tone that would have made Soleil choke up if she wasn’t already having a hard enough time breathing. There it was. That parental panic. “Dad,” she croaked. “No.” 

“How do I know this won’t be another trick?” 

“I can prove it,” Inigo said. He leaned around her to look at Nina and Forrest. “Please cover your ears. And don’t uncover them until you see me stop singing.” 

The humans obliged and Inigo opened his mouth. The most beautiful melody flowed out of it, like a serene waterfall. In that moment, it was all Soleil could do not to wish that Nina could hear it right now. It was the most lovely thing she had ever experienced. Soleil had heard her dad hum before, but never sing like this. She had no idea. 

The waters around him glowed with that same radiant light that had followed Soleil’s dancing the night before when she healed Nina’s ankle. What little waves there were stopped their thrashing instantly. Calm fell on them like a blanket. Aversa grinned wickedly. 

“Okay,” she said when Inigo’s brief song ended. Her grip loosened on Soleil without dropping her entirely, but at least she could breathe again. Forrest and Nina tentatively removed their fingers from their ears. “We can deal.” 

With a flick of her wrist, a new contract hovered in air. Inigo’s eyes scanned it, reading. Soleil wasn’t sure where he’d learned, but she was sort of irritated he had never taught her. Her time on land would have been much easier if she could just write to Nina. Or, she would have been irritated if she’d had the time. He pressed a drop of blood to the corner of the document and it rolled up into thin air. Aversa flung Soleil roughly back into the sea. Inigo immediately went to her and embraced her. 

“Dad,” Soleil whimpered. “I’m so sorry.” 

He was only able to hold her tightly in response, but it was all she needed. 

“Well. Catastrophe averted. Or, I suppose, rather the opposite. It took me two days to implant the young siren’s voice inside of me, but I think I have perfected the technique. This will only be a minor set back. I will return before the sun sets and at that time, the god of annihilation really will rise from his depths. Until then.” 

She flung a halfhearted farewell to her adversaries and casually walked back into the water. When she was to her waist Soleil caught a glimpse of her shark fin, and then the sea witch vanished below. 

As soon as the danger was gone, Nina raced to the water. She ran in, boots and all, and reached for Soleil. Soleil left her father’s embrace to reach back, kicking her tail through the water clumsily. She was shaken, but her heart tugged her toward Nina and their hands clasped. 

The sea witch would be back and she would bring with her the destructive powers of the Siren Song. Soleil had never seen them in person, but she had been warned. As a dance, it could only be participated in by people who were in the water. Anyone outside of the water would be driven to madness. Something about drowning, her grandmother had tried to explain once through clearly painful memories that got her choked up easily. As a young siren, Soleil hadn’t been able to imagine the logistics behind dancing with someone who wasn’t on the same terrain as herself. 

Whatever the damage, Soleil would protect Nina. She would not let her drown. She would keep her afloat no matter what, even if she went mad. The day Soleil let the world lose a great person like Nina was the day she would fail as a protector of the sea. 

“Soleil,” Nina panted. “Are you okay? What happened? Are we going to die?” 

“N...I don’t…Um…That...” Now that she had her voice back, Soleil wasn’t sure what to do with it. Where to begin. What questions to ask, what answers to provide. 

Nina, so used to Soleil being unable to talk, plowed on. “You’re voice is back. That evil lady, did she steal it? Is that why you had legs? Holy shit, I can’t believe you were really a mermaid this whole time! I mean, I sort of believed you, but I tried not to. I tried to remind myself that you were most likely just a crazy person. But you’re not! You have a tail! And that dance you did the other night. That was magic. And now that lady has the magic and she’s going to revive a god of annihilation and we’re all probably doomed so-” 

“Nina,” Soleil said softly. She loved the feeling of that name in her mouth, but she had no time to dwell on pleasantries. She lifted her free hand and put it to the side of Nina’s face. She felt Nina’s skin warm where she touched, watched those blue eyes grow wide. Her heart beat ferociously. “You don’t have to do all the talking anymore.” 

Soleil was pretty sure she knew where this scene was going. She had Nina’s face in her hand and Nina’s name on her lips. All the things she wanted to say over the past two days were bubbling up, ready to explode out of her. She leaned in. Nina gasped and pulled back. 

“No. You’re right. Talking won’t do anything. I have to sing.” 

Before Soleil could question her, Nina was swimming toward the shore, splashing wildly. Soleil was wounded, but only for a heartbeat. She collected herself and chased after Nina. 

“Wait, what are you talking about? Do you have a plan?” 

“I think so!” Nina said. “This all comes down to songs right? The song of the sea. My people have been afraid of it for so long, but you said it's a song of healing. Maybe if-” 

“Nina!” boomed a voice from the beach, causing both girls to flinch. Standing there at the water’s edge was the man with the eyepatch and white hair, and next to him the regal blonde with the purple sash. Nina’s father and his fiancé, the prince. 

Nina paused in the water, sizing her father up. Soleil put a hand on her elbow, a show that she was here. She had always been here and she would always be here. Nina met her eyes. “I’m going to talk to my family,” Nina said. “I’m going to save you. And the sea. And the people on land. All of us. I just need some time.” 

“Aversa will be back when the sun sets,” Soleil reminded her. 

“Yeah,” Nina said. She hesitated again and then, quickly, she surged forward and placed a little peck on Soleil’s cheek. Soleil turned red instantly, her fingers flying to the offended spot. Nina smirked at her reaction. “What, did you think I didn’t notice what you just tried to pull back there? I’ll kiss you Soleil, but only after we save the world and you introduce me to a merman. A hot one. Not your father, that’s cheating.” 

“Damnit, I thought I thought I could get away with it.” 

“Yeah right. I have standards.” Nina laughed and Soleil smiled. “I’ll be back by sunset. Promise!” And then she was gone, climbing out of the water where Soleil could not follow her. 

Soleil watched as Nina bickered with her dad and then, astoundingly, hugged Prince Leo. She said something to him that Soleil could not quite make out, and then they were running away from the water. When they were almost out of sigh, Forrest turned to look back at the water. His silhouette, the wind ruffling his curls and his skirts, was truly gorgeous. But Soleil felt nothing more than appreciation for him. Even though her attraction for him was what had gotten her into this mess, she didn’t regret it. She never would have met Nina if she hadn’t pursued the gorgeous stranger dancing on a balcony. 

A tap on her shoulder broke Soleil out of her thoughts. She turned to face her mute father. He smiled. 

“Oh, Dad,” Soleil whimpered. “I’m so sorry. I’ll explain everything on the way though, we need to get moving.” 

Inigo cocked his head to the side, the same look of confusion Soleil had given Nina countless times in her adventures on land. She almost laughed to see it reflected back at her now. 

“We need to go get the other merfolk and grandma. I know it’s been a closely guarded secret, but I think it’s about time we share our dance. We’re going to need all the healing energy we can get.” 

Inigo smiled and nodded. And then they were off. If they were going to teach a whole colony of merfolk how to dance, they had to do it quickly. They only had until sunset. 

\--- 

One by one, heads bobbed up to the surface of the water. First there was just one or two, then a dozen, then nearly a hundred. The water was dark and tumultuous. Waves crashed into each other and against the rocks on land. The sun was a blood red orange in the sky, large and angry, falling toward the horizon. It was about time. 

Olivia, the elder siren of the seas, perched herself on a rock overlooking their small army. Inigo and Soleil climbed up on either side of her. They were a lovely family with their matching pink hair and white tails. The favored children of the sea. Though Olivia was retired from her position as the head of their family, Inigo was currently mute so she would have to do all the speaking. Soleil could tell she was nervous about it. Her grandmother was a shy, gentle soul. She wasn’t made for battle. Yet here they were and it was all Soleil’s fault. She would never find the end of her guilt. 

“Children of the sea,” Olivia announced, screaming over the crashing waves all around her. “We’re gathering today to protect not only our lives and the lives of all the defenseless people on shore, but to protect our mother, the sea. If Grima rises, our way of life will fall. It will be the end of peace. We, the sirens, have done all we could to teach you our dance. Please do not engage a human while you do it unless they are in the water with you. Otherwise, dance with all your might. The sea is depending on us.” 

The merfolk cheered, mustering all the morale they could. Their voices were drowned out by a crack of thunder on the horizon. The setting sun was obscured by dark clouds that rolled in. The wind picked up, and with it came a voice. Inigo’s voice. But his mouth was clamped shut in a hard line. 

“Dance!” Olivia shrieked “Do it now! She’s here!” 

She dove back into the water just as heads dipped below the waves. Soleil and Inigo were right behind her. The sight of all those merfolk twisting and twirling in synchronization at Olivia’s instruction was breathtaking. Their multicolored tails carved through the water, inexperienced but trying. They danced to the tune of the howling sea, grabbing at its cries and attempting to soothe it. Soleil took her spot among them and began her dance as well. She couldn’t help but remember the twist of her toes in the sand as she danced with Nina in the shallows of this very sea. 

Nina. Her heart hurt at the thought of Nina. It had been hours since they last saw each other. Soleil wondered if she had managed to pull off her plan, or if her father had just punished her for attempting to run off with pirates. Maybe he had thrown her in a dungeon cell. It was a wild thought, but Soleil latched onto it, hoping. If she was locked up she would be safe from the storm and the lull of the Siren Song that Aversa wielded. 

As they danced, Soleil’s hope began to wane. Nothing was happening. A cyclone that reached down into the depths of the sea had entered her line of sight and it was approaching, undeterred. Soleil kept dancing, but her fear was mounting. This was pointless. They needed to run. 

All at once, the lights came on. The dark waters brightened as the magic of the sea activated. Out of the water it was hard to see exactly what happened when the Siren Song was performed, but up close it was easier. All of the plankton and other microscopic organisms that were usually invisible to the naked eye began to emit light, one by one. They gathered and concentrated on the dancing merfolk, eating away at the sickness of the sea. The light they created now spread until it encompassed all of twirling bodies. A huge shining ball of light in the middle of the sea. Aversa’s cycle came up against it and halted. 

“Keep going!” Soleil encouraged the people around her. She could hear her grandmother yelling shouts of affirmation too, and see her dad gesturing excitedly. “It’s working!” Encouraged, the merfolk danced on, their movements crisper, more precise. Soleil danced upwards until her head broke the surface. 

Aversa was floating in the center of the cyclone, singing in Inigo’s beautiful tenor. Soleil could see her face and white hair, but not much else. She was no longer merfolk nor human. She was only the storm. The harbinger of destruction. She didn’t give up either. When her cyclone came to a stop, she sang louder, amping up the power. She had to be borrowing some of that power from an ancient entity in the depths of the ocean to battle against this much healing power, and Soleil had a fair enough guess at this point who it might be. 

Among all the discord, a shout rang out from the shore. Soleil stopped dancing and turned to see what it was. To her utter horror, a mass of people were gathering at the water’s edge. They were lulled by the Siren Song, she had no doubt about it. There were too many humans to count, all crowding on the beach around the palace. Some were on the balconies facing the water and even the roof. Soleil was afraid they might jump. There were children among them. The glow of healing magic flickered, and the cyclone broke through. Soleil heard the shouts as her people under water swam out of the way, breaking the spell of the dance. Her skin itched with horrified chill. Aversa sang on. 

Soleil did the only thing she could think of. She broke out in a mad dash swim for the shore. She didn’t know if Nina was among the people there, but if she was Soleil had to save her. She was racing a cyclone now. She had to get there first. 

The closer she got to the shore, she realized she could hear something. Something that wasn’t the storm or the cries from the merfolk or Aversa’s singing. There was another song lifting into the air. She strained to hear it, but an aggressive wave knocked her over into the water. She climbed back to the surface and flung herself onto a rock, the same rock she had sat upon when she had first seen Forrest dancing. She strained her ears toward the shore. 

It was the Siren Festival song, the song of the land. Soleil squinted and sure enough, Nina was standing at the front of the throng of people, holding Niles and Leo’s hands on either side of her, singing as loud as she could. 

Soleil wasn’t sure that was how it all worked. You couldn’t just sing a song and it be magic. But then she squinted and noticed that all the wisps of hair in Nina’s braids were still. They weren’t so much as ruffled by the intense winds that were currently sweeping the sea. Her heart started to pound. She dove off the rock and sprinted back to the merfolk. 

“Keep dancing!” Soleil said. “The humans are here to help! Let’s do our best to not let them down!” 

She heard some cheers and then the dancing started up again. The water glowed, brighter this time. Soleil peaked over the surface and saw, to her astonishment, the sand beneath the feet of the human singers was glowing too. 

Aversa missed a note in her song as she was jostled by the water. As she got closer to the land, her winds started to die down. She dropped a few feet, her singing interrupted for a just a moment to scream. The glowing sand mixed with the glowing water. The cyclone diminished. 

Soleil felt joyful tears pricking her eyes. She let out a halting laugh, unsure if what she was seeing was real. There was a hand on her shoulder and she turned to see her dad. Then one on her other shoulder, her grandmother. 

“We may be of the sea or of the land, but we are of one planet. And when we work together, there is nothing we can’t protect,” Olivia said as a tear rolled down her cheek. 

The sirens hugged each other, relieved, as the songs mingled in one last burst of healing magic that destroyed the cyclone completely. A hole opened up in the sea and Aversa screamed as she fell into it. Then the water rushed back into the place and the sky cleared instantly and everything was calm. The sea witch was gone, banished to the depths that her master dwelt in. Even with the sun almost gone over the horizon, a symbol of victory lashed across the sky. A rainbow, large and bold, arched from land to sea. They had won. 

Slowly, little by little, merfolk surfaced to marvel at the rainbow and cheered. The humans followed suit. They seemed shocked to see these mythical creatures that they had been taught were beasts laughing so mirthfully, but the brush with annihilation had them all too rattled to care. They just whooped and celebrated. As she relished in hugging her own father, Soleil snuck a peak over his shoulder to see Nina hug hers. Niles buried his face in her braids and lifted her off the ground. Perhaps he had been reassuring everyone that she would be fine the past couple of days only to mask his own worry. Soleil smiled. 

The celebrations started to die down and human and merfolk alike were eyeing each other with trepidation. Soleil splashed up onto shore, eager to break the ice. “Nina!” she called. “Nina we did it!” 

Nina wriggled out of her father’s embrace and sprinted into the water. Soleil surged upward to meet her and Nina fell to her knees and they embraced. They rolled in the surf, laughing. The separate lines of their people followed their example and met in the shallows of the sea. They shook hands, introduced themselves. Soleil could not believe what she was seeing. 

“They’re not afraid,” Nina breathed. “I can’t believe it. This is… Even more than I imagined.” 

“What did you do?” Soleil asked her. “How did you get this many people?” 

“I asked Leo,” Nina said with a shrug. “I mean, he’s family right? Or he will be soon. And he’s the prince. He sent out soldiers immediately and we gathered as many townsfolk as we could to sing our song. I didn’t know if it would work but… Well it did, so, yay!” 

“Yay!” Soleil agreed. She could not stop smiling. Her cheeks were starting to hurt. Were they going to kiss now? Her heart felt like it was about to burst out of her chest. 

“Excuse me, Soleil,” came a deep voice from over her shoulder. Both Nina and Soleil turned. “Would you mind introducing me to your heroic ally?” 

It was one of her father’s friends, a prince of the Ylissean royal family. He was shirtless, of course, a brand of his lineage glowing on his large bicep. Water ran down his torso, in between his chiseled abs. His tousled blonde hair was radiant in the remnant embers of the sun. Soleil felt Nina instantly melt in her arms. 

“Your highness, this is Nina. Nina, this is Prince Owain. He’s a merman, as you can see.” Amicable, Owain flicked his red tail out of the water to show off the fin. 

“Uhh,” Nina stuttered. “I, uh…. Uh….” 

Speechless. Soleil suppressed a giggle. As it turned out, Nina could converse with neither man of the land nor man of the water. Thankfully, Owain was nothing but good cheer and he just smiled as she babbled on, growing hotter and hotter. 

While Nina fumbled with her words, Soleil looked around at the crowd, trying to get a better look. She saw Olivia approach Niles. They talked as if they were old friends. It warmed her heart to see. Then Leo stood up on a rock, gathered everyone’s attention and loudly announced that from here on out, Nohr would have peaceful relations with Ylisse and that the Siren Festival would become an homage to the sea rather than a warding. 

“Oh, peace negotiations,” Owain said happily. “I believe that is my cue! I must attend to my royal duties. Until next time Nina, protector of the surface dwellers!” And then he bowed and left. 

Nina relaxed immediately. “Whew,” she breathed. “That was… Wow. Thank you.” 

Soleil laughed. “I didn’t really do anything in the end. He approached you. It was probably your magnetic personality.” 

Nina punched Soleil lightly in the arm. “Were you always this snarky?” 

“No, definitely not. I learned it from you.” She laughed and Nina settled into her arms, dipped into the water up to her shoulders. She was soaked through. She didn’t seem to mind. Her arms tightened around Soleil. 

“What happens now?” Nina asked. “You stay a mermaid and I stay on land? And that’s it?” 

Soleil looked at the sky. The rainbow was waning. The sun had barely a minute left of light. Not that it mattered. 

“I had a contract with the sea witch,” Soleil said. “She said if I kissed the person that made me want to stay as a human by the sunset on my third day, I would get to keep my legs. Originally that motivation was Forrest. It changed, of course. And not because he’s a boy, for the record.” Nina smiled. Soleil wanted to smile with her, but a sigh escaped her instead. “But, uh… The contract was broken. So I don’t think I’ll get my legs back, no matter what happens now.” 

“So what you’re saying is, if you kiss me you’ll get nothing out of it?” Nina said, her voice low. 

“No,” Soleil whispered. “I’m not saying that at all.” 

Nina leaned forward. Soleil met her halfway. Their lips met, wet and salty from the sea. No matter, they made their own sweetness. It was gentle at first, until Soleil pulled away only to deepen the kiss when she went back in. Nina tightened her grip around Soleil, as if their bodies could get any closer. 

Unbeknownst to them at first, the water around them started to glow. They were too wrapped up in each other. But then Soleil felt a weird, warm sensation all over her body and she pulled out of the kiss, dazed. It was hard not to notice the glowing then. Soleil felt something between her legs. It was just the sea. But it was between her _legs_. 

“Ah!” Soleil yelped, dipping below the surface. “I don’t know how to swim!” 

“You’re a mermaid!” Nina shouted back, scrambling to get a hold of her. 

“I was!” Soleil shouted back. Nina’s eyes went wide. 

Fortunately, they were surrounded by helping hands. A human very quickly produced a jacket that Soleil could wrap around her lower half as she crawled out of the sea. She marveled at her toes in the sand. Her ten ugly little friends. She had been so sure she would never see them again. 

“But… How…?” 

She looked up, searching for answers helplessly. Then her eyes met Olivia’s. Olivia just giggled. 

“I don’t have all the answers. All I can say is, the sea works in mysterious ways. She is really good at reading the ripples of a person’s heart.” 

Soleil felt a warmth of happiness spreading in her chest, but she didn’t have time to dwell on it because the next second Nina knocked her back onto the sand and started kissing her senseless. And she was okay with it. How could she not be? Soleil had gone to the surface searching for her true love. And that was exactly what she had found.


	5. Encore

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for reading, I hope you enjoyed it. :) Please let me know what you think and god bless Solnina.

Once upon a time, the children of the sea and the children of the land were not friends. The merfolk were scared of the power they held over the humans and the humans were certain that merfolk were monsters who wanted them vanquished. Those times are long in the past now. Relationships were mended. Now, they gather together in harmony. They sing and dance and their planet thanks them for it. Life flourishes and peace prospers.

Legends are being rewritten even as the people who lived them still breathe. There’s the story of a sorceress who sought to destroy everything, and the two girls, ambassadors of land and sea, that worked together to take her down. For a time they were heralded as heroes. They could hardly go into public without being ambushed by the grateful masses. It was no wonder that they learned, quickly, how to fly under the radar. 

Despite their absence from the public eye, the stories of their good deeds continue to find their way into the ears and hearts of civilians. They defeated the sea witch, but they did not stop there. From an orphanage built in the name of the land born child with white braids to a series of soup kitchens funded by accounts in the name of the siren turned human. Somehow, those two women are known for fixing problems all over the country, large and small, even though their physical whereabouts are often a mystery. 

A modest house boat docked at the Nohrian harbor bobs inconspicuously in the waters. To the outside observer, it would seem completely tranquil. But inside, a hushed confrontation was underway. 

“I’m _starving_ , Babe.” 

“Well, you’re going to have keep starving then because I’m not leaving this boat without an escort.” 

“It’s not my fault we’re early. You were the one sailing.” 

“Maybe you wouldn’t be so hungry if you had eaten more breakfast.” 

“My grandma means well but that was the third time this week she’s brought us kelp. I used to love my grandma’s kelp but… It must not agree with my legs or something.” 

“You’re ridiculous. Your grandma’s kelp is the best meal in the whole sea. The way she salts it is… Besides the point. I don’t want to leave this boat until my family’s escort gets here because I don’t want to get mobbed. You remember what happened last time.” 

“Aw, you’re not still mad about that are you? We’re heroes! You can’t fault the people for being excited to see us.” 

“No but… I don’t… Like all that attention…” 

“...What if we’re just really careful.” 

“Careful?” 

Two fingers lifted in the dim light of the bedroom. They walked across the air. Slow. Sneaking. Two knowing smiles followed their lead. 

“Okay,” said Nina. “Follow my lead.”


End file.
